Empyrean Capital Partners LP Trims Stock Holdings in Aercap Holdings N.V. $AER

Empyrean Capital Partners LP reduced its stake in shares of Aercap Holdings N.V. (NYSE:AER) by 9.1% in the 1st quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 1,000,000 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 100,000 shares during the quarter. Aercap comprises about 4.5% of Empyrean Capital Partners LP’s investment portfolio, making the stock its largest position. Empyrean Capital Partners LP’s holdings in Aercap were worth $137,180,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Engle Capital Management L.P. increased its stake in shares of Aercap by 36.7% in the 1st quarter. Engle Capital Management L.P. now owns 164,000 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $22,498,000 after acquiring an additional 44,000 shares during the last quarter. Quantinno Capital Management LP boosted its stake in Aercap by 14.6% during the 1st quarter. Quantinno Capital Management LP now owns 90,137 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $12,365,000 after acquiring an additional 11,504 shares during the last quarter. Clough Capital Partners L P boosted its stake in Aercap by 5.5% during the 1st quarter. Clough Capital Partners L P now owns 30,896 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $4,238,000 after acquiring an additional 1,610 shares during the last quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC grew its holdings in Aercap by 18.8% during the first quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC now owns 128,092 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $17,572,000 after purchasing an additional 20,226 shares during the period. Finally, OMERS ADMINISTRATION Corp acquired a new position in Aercap during the first quarter valued at approximately $741,000. 96.42% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

AER has been the topic of several analyst reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their target price on shares of Aercap from $150.00 to $155.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, April 30th. Zacks Research raised shares of Aercap from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Monday, July 20th. Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of Aercap from a “buy (b+)” rating to a “buy (a-)” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 8th. Morgan Stanley lowered their price objective on shares of Aercap from $160.00 to $155.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, April 30th. Finally, Citigroup assumed coverage on Aercap in a research note on Monday, July 20th. They set a “buy” rating and a $173.00 price objective on the stock. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eight have issued a Buy rating and one has issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $168.67.

Aercap Stock Performance

Shares of AER stock opened at $151.56 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.34, a quick ratio of 0.24 and a current ratio of 0.24. The company has a market capitalization of $25.29 billion, a P/E ratio of 6.64, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.05 and a beta of 0.94. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $144.01 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $143.35. Aercap Holdings N.V. has a 52 week low of $105.65 and a 52 week high of $155.99.

Aercap (NYSE:AER) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, March 31st. The financial services provider reported $5.39 earnings per share for the quarter. The firm had revenue of $2.30 billion for the quarter. Aercap had a net margin of 45.22% and a return on equity of 16.01%. On average, analysts expect that Aercap Holdings N.V. will post 17.39 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Aercap announced that its board has approved a stock repurchase plan on Wednesday, April 29th that authorizes the company to repurchase $1.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the financial services provider to purchase up to 4.3% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are generally a sign that the company’s management believes its stock is undervalued.

About Aercap

AerCap Holdings N.V. (NYSE: AER) is a global aircraft leasing and aviation finance company that acquires, leases, sells and manages commercial aircraft and engines. Its core services include operating leases, finance leases, sale-and-leaseback transactions, aircraft trading and remarketing, and asset management for airline customers. The company also provides related commercial and technical support services designed to optimize fleet utilization and residual values over the life cycle of aircraft and engines.

Operating with a broad global footprint, AerCap serves airlines and other aviation customers across North America, Europe, Asia-Pacific, Latin America, the Middle East and Africa.