Kennedy Capital Management LLC Lowers Position in AAON, Inc. (NASDAQ:AAON)

Kennedy Capital Management LLC lessened its stake in shares of AAON, Inc. (NASDAQ:AAON - Free Report) by 4.8% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 75,774 shares of the construction company's stock after selling 3,822 shares during the quarter. Kennedy Capital Management LLC owned approximately 0.09% of AAON worth $8,917,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. HighTower Advisors LLC grew its holdings in AAON by 46.6% during the 3rd quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC now owns 13,043 shares of the construction company's stock valued at $1,408,000 after purchasing an additional 4,146 shares in the last quarter. Quantinno Capital Management LP boosted its holdings in shares of AAON by 3.1% during the third quarter. Quantinno Capital Management LP now owns 6,486 shares of the construction company's stock valued at $699,000 after acquiring an additional 192 shares during the period. State Street Corp increased its position in AAON by 0.6% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 1,977,531 shares of the construction company's stock valued at $213,257,000 after acquiring an additional 12,502 shares during the period. Wolverine Trading LLC bought a new position in AAON in the 3rd quarter valued at about $471,000. Finally, Orion Portfolio Solutions LLC acquired a new position in shares of AAON during the 3rd quarter valued at $213,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 70.81% of the company's stock.

AAON Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ AAON traded down $1.38 during midday trading on Wednesday, reaching $80.71. The company's stock had a trading volume of 160,766 shares, compared to its average volume of 721,356. AAON, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $68.98 and a fifty-two week high of $144.07. The business's 50 day moving average price is $88.11 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $110.50. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07, a quick ratio of 1.79 and a current ratio of 3.06. The company has a market cap of $6.59 billion, a P/E ratio of 35.56 and a beta of 0.96.

AAON Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 28th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, March 18th were given a $0.10 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, March 18th. This represents a $0.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.50%. This is a positive change from AAON's previous quarterly dividend of $0.08. AAON's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 19.90%.

AAON declared that its board has approved a stock buyback program on Tuesday, March 4th that permits the company to buyback $30.00 million in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization permits the construction company to reacquire up to 0.5% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are often an indication that the company's leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts have recently commented on the company. DA Davidson decreased their target price on AAON from $150.00 to $125.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research report on Friday, February 28th. Robert W. Baird cut their price objective on shares of AAON from $155.00 to $116.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research report on Friday, February 28th. CJS Securities raised AAON from a "market perform" rating to an "outperform" rating and set a $110.00 price objective on the stock in a report on Friday, February 28th. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded AAON from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a research report on Friday, February 28th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has given a hold rating, four have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $115.50.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, Director David Raymond Stewart acquired 1,000 shares of AAON stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 5th. The stock was bought at an average price of $80.86 per share, with a total value of $80,860.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 3,000 shares in the company, valued at $242,580. This represents a 50.00 % increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Insiders own 18.55% of the company's stock.

About AAON

AAON, Inc, together with its subsidiaries, engages in engineering, manufacturing, marketing, and selling air conditioning and heating equipment in the United States and Canada. The company operates through three segments: AAON Oklahoma, AAON Coil Products, and BASX. It offers rooftop units, data center cooling solutions, cleanroom systems, chillers, packaged outdoor mechanical rooms, air handling units, makeup air units, energy recovery units, condensing units, geothermal/water-source heat pumps, coils, and controls.