BNP Paribas Exane Upgrades Heico (NYSE:HEI) to Outperform

Heico (NYSE:HEI) was upgraded by equities research analysts at BNP Paribas Exane from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating in a report released on Friday, MarketBeat.com reports.

A number of other analysts also recently commented on the company. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reiterated a “hold” rating and issued a $375.00 price objective (up from $355.00) on shares of Heico in a research report on Monday, December 22nd. Royal Bank Of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $375.00 target price (up from $350.00) on shares of Heico in a research report on Monday, December 22nd. Stifel Nicolaus set a $370.00 price target on shares of Heico and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, December 22nd. Citigroup restated a “buy” rating and issued a $415.00 price objective (up from $367.00) on shares of Heico in a research note on Tuesday, January 13th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reiterated a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of Heico in a research report on Monday, December 29th. Eleven investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and seven have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $364.43.

Heico Price Performance

Shares of Heico stock opened at $313.56 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49, a current ratio of 2.83 and a quick ratio of 1.28. The company has a market cap of $43.70 billion, a PE ratio of 61.97, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.81 and a beta of 1.01. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $337.58 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $322.74. Heico has a fifty-two week low of $229.07 and a fifty-two week high of $361.69.

Heico (NYSE:HEI) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 25th. The aerospace company reported $1.35 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.26 by $0.09. Heico had a net margin of 15.38% and a return on equity of 16.93%. The business had revenue of $1.18 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.17 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $1.20 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 14.4% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts expect that Heico will post 4.2 EPS for the current year.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Heico

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. American Century Companies Inc. grew its stake in Heico by 45.7% during the third quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 769,704 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $248,476,000 after buying an additional 241,559 shares during the last quarter. Munro Partners acquired a new position in shares of Heico in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $59,720,000. CI Investments Inc. grew its position in Heico by 40.0% during the 4th quarter. CI Investments Inc. now owns 164,036 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $53,080,000 after acquiring an additional 46,846 shares during the last quarter. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. increased its holdings in Heico by 263.2% during the 3rd quarter. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. now owns 60,469 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $19,521,000 after purchasing an additional 43,821 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Fisher Asset Management LLC raised its position in Heico by 12.1% in the 4th quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 326,386 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $105,615,000 after purchasing an additional 35,288 shares during the last quarter. 27.12% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Heico Company Profile

HEICO Corporation is an aerospace, defense and electronics company that designs, manufactures, and sells a range of products and provides repair and aftermarket services. Headquartered in Hollywood, Florida, HEICO supplies replacement components, repair services and engineered systems for commercial and business aviation, military and space markets as well as for selected industrial and medical customers. The company’s offerings are focused on sustaining and improving the reliability and availability of complex equipment across its end markets.

HEICO operates through two principal business areas.