Investors buying Air Methods shares in volumes

insight

by Alasdair Whyte

10 March 2016

Air Methods handover ceremony, taking delivery of their first Bell 407GXP from an order for 200

Recent reports of investment house activity in the shares of Air Methods (AIRM) have been strongly focused on share purchases. In recent weeks, these financials organisations have filed their fourth quarter 13F forms. This is a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), also known as the information required of institutional investment managers form, and is a quarterly requirement for institutional investment managers with over $100 million in qualifying assets. Recent 13F filings for AIRM shares have reported on the fourth quarter of 2015, and have included:

Eagle Asset Management raising its position in Air Methods by 49.6% during the fourth quarter. The firm owned 1,657,218 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 549,278 shares during the period. At 31 December, Eagle owned 4.22% of Air Methods Corp worth $69,487,000.
Mackay Shields increased its position by 15.4% in the same period, and now owns 36,011,000 shares of the company’s stock worth $49,140,000 after buying an additional 4,798,000 shares during the last quarter. [Note, these numbers are widely reported in the financial press, but do not tie up with the recent market price for AIRM shares]
Rice Hall James & Associates LLC purchased a new stake Air Methods of 251,445 shares, valued at approximately $10,543,000.
Russell Frank Co also acquired a new position in Air Methods worth about $4,307,000.
Acadian Asset Management was another new investor, purchasing stock worth about $1,083,000.
Washington Capital Management increased their holding to 24,476 shares after buying an additional 4,672 shares during the period. Current valuation $956,000
Capstone Asset Management Company now owns 11,529 shares worth $483,000 after buying an additional 390 shares during the last quarter.
Essex Investment Management Co. LLC increased its position in Air Methods Corp by 35.6% in the fourth quarter. Essex Investment Management Co. LLC now owns 11,156 shares of the company’s stock worth $468,000 after buying an additional 2,931 shares during the last quarter.

AIRM has also featured in a number of recent research reports, including those from Zacks Investment Research, William Blair and TheStreet. All three recommended the purchase of AIRM stock, while two others are issued a “hold” rating. The company has a consensus rating of “buy” and a one year consensus price target of $55.33. Air Methods stock has an all-time peak of $59.81 in August 2014.

Meantime, Air Methods is engaging in a very public difference of opinion with investor Voce Capital Management. In both October 2015 and February 2016, Voce wrote a letter to the Air Methods board, heavily critical of how the company was being run and how the share price was suffering as a result. Voce has put forward nominations for two independent directors for consideration at the company’s 2016 Annual Meeting of Shareholders. Air Methods published response focused on three areas:

Revenue growth in both the air medical services and tourism businesses.
Spending $288 million over the past 12 months to buy Tri-State Care Flight, San Antonio AirLife and Bayfront Health.
Commitment to new aircraft- the company has ordered 200 Bell 407GXP helicopters, 70% of which are for fleet renewal and 30% for business growth, and the first of these was delivered recently by the manufacturer – see heading photo

There will certainly be continued focus on Air Methods stock in the near term, and Helicopter Investor will report further in the future.

Investors buying Air Methods shares in volumes

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