Air Lease (NYSE:AL) Upgraded to Hold at Zacks Research

Zacks Research upgraded shares of Air Lease (NYSE:AL) from a strong sell rating to a hold rating in a research report sent to investors on Monday,Zacks.com reports.

A number of other equities analysts have also recently issued reports on AL. Barclays reiterated an “equal weight” rating and issued a $65.00 target price (down from $68.00) on shares of Air Lease in a report on Tuesday. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Air Lease in a report on Wednesday, October 8th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, five have given a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Air Lease currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $59.17.

Air Lease Trading Up 0.0%

AL opened at $64.19 on Monday. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $63.98 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $61.69. Air Lease has a 1-year low of $38.25 and a 1-year high of $64.40. The company has a market cap of $7.17 billion, a P/E ratio of 7.44, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.56 and a beta of 1.15. The company has a current ratio of 0.43, a quick ratio of 0.43 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.42.

Air Lease (NYSE:AL) last issued its earnings results on Monday, November 3rd. The transportation company reported $1.29 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.16 by $0.13. Air Lease had a return on equity of 7.84% and a net margin of 35.08%.The company had revenue of $725.39 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $744.59 million. During the same period last year, the business posted $0.82 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.1% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts predict that Air Lease will post 5.16 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Air Lease Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, January 8th. Investors of record on Thursday, December 4th will be issued a dividend of $0.22 per share. This represents a $0.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.4%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, December 4th. Air Lease’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 10.20%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Air Lease news, CFO Gregory B. Willis sold 23,481 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, November 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $63.83, for a total value of $1,498,792.23. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer owned 56,408 shares in the company, valued at $3,600,522.64. This represents a 29.39% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, EVP Kishore Korde sold 30,160 shares of Air Lease stock in a transaction on Tuesday, November 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $63.90, for a total value of $1,927,224.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president owned 79,263 shares in the company, valued at $5,064,905.70. The trade was a 27.56% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders sold a total of 760,593 shares of company stock worth $48,668,588 in the last ninety days. Company insiders own 6.80% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Pentwater Capital Management LP purchased a new stake in Air Lease in the third quarter worth $140,030,000. AQR Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in Air Lease by 930.1% in the 3rd quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 2,283,492 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $145,321,000 after acquiring an additional 2,061,817 shares during the last quarter. Magnetar Financial LLC bought a new stake in Air Lease in the 3rd quarter valued at about $100,534,000. Norges Bank bought a new stake in Air Lease in the 2nd quarter valued at about $71,910,000. Finally, AQR Arbitrage LLC purchased a new stake in Air Lease during the third quarter valued at about $64,190,000. 94.59% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

About Air Lease

Air Lease Corporation (NYSE: AL) is a leading aircraft leasing company that acquires commercial jet aircraft and leases them to airlines worldwide. The firm’s core business activities include direct aircraft acquisition, lease management and portfolio remarketing. By structuring sale‐and‐leaseback transactions, operating leases and secured loans, Air Lease provides flexible financing solutions that enable carriers to modernize their fleets without committing large amounts of capital to ownership.

Founded in 2010 and headquartered in Los Angeles, Air Lease Corporation serves a diverse customer base spanning North America, Europe, Asia, Latin America and the Middle East.