Franklin Resources Inc. Raises Stock Position in AAON, Inc. (NASDAQ:AAON)

Franklin Resources Inc. lifted its stake in AAON, Inc. (NASDAQ:AAON - Free Report) by 258.8% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 330,397 shares of the construction company's stock after purchasing an additional 238,308 shares during the period. Franklin Resources Inc. owned about 0.41% of AAON worth $37,014,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in AAON. Conestoga Capital Advisors LLC raised its position in AAON by 1.9% during the 3rd quarter. Conestoga Capital Advisors LLC now owns 2,125,186 shares of the construction company's stock valued at $229,180,000 after purchasing an additional 39,059 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp increased its stake in shares of AAON by 0.6% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 1,977,531 shares of the construction company's stock valued at $213,257,000 after buying an additional 12,502 shares during the period. Wasatch Advisors LP increased its stake in shares of AAON by 39.1% during the third quarter. Wasatch Advisors LP now owns 1,866,746 shares of the construction company's stock valued at $201,310,000 after buying an additional 525,132 shares during the period. FMR LLC raised its holdings in shares of AAON by 9.6% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 1,729,498 shares of the construction company's stock valued at $186,509,000 after acquiring an additional 151,540 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Geneva Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in AAON by 1.5% in the third quarter. Geneva Capital Management LLC now owns 1,698,207 shares of the construction company's stock worth $183,135,000 after acquiring an additional 24,384 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 70.81% of the company's stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other AAON news, CEO Gary D. Fields sold 35,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $132.03, for a total transaction of $4,621,050.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 64,295 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,488,868.85. The trade was a 35.25 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, VP Casey Kidwell sold 4,796 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, November 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $136.38, for a total value of $654,078.48. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now owns 4,953 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $675,490.14. The trade was a 49.19 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 57,329 shares of company stock valued at $7,663,726. 18.55% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

AAON Stock Up 1.0 %

NASDAQ:AAON traded up $1.26 during midday trading on Thursday, reaching $123.83. 456,218 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 587,144. The stock has a market capitalization of $10.06 billion, a PE ratio of 54.55 and a beta of 0.83. AAON, Inc. has a 12-month low of $68.38 and a 12-month high of $144.07. 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 business has a 50-day moving average of $125.01 and a two-hundred day moving average of $102.04.

AAON (NASDAQ:AAON - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, November 7th. The construction company reported $0.63 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.57 by $0.06. AAON had a return on equity of 24.98% and a net margin of 15.78%. The firm had revenue of $327.25 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $315.80 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $0.64 EPS. The business's revenue for the quarter was up 4.9% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts forecast that AAON, Inc. will post 2.26 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

AAON Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 19th. Shareholders of record on Friday, November 29th will be issued a $0.08 dividend. This represents a $0.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.26%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, November 29th. AAON's dividend payout ratio is presently 14.10%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have commented on AAON. DA Davidson raised their target price on shares of AAON from $102.00 to $150.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Friday, November 8th. Baird R W raised shares of AAON from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Monday, October 28th. Robert W. Baird upped their target price on AAON from $130.00 to $138.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Friday, November 8th. StockNews.com upgraded AAON from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Friday, September 20th. Finally, Sidoti lowered AAON from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating and boosted their price target for the stock from $102.00 to $111.00 in a research report on Tuesday, October 22nd. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, three have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $133.00.

AAON Profile

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.