Air Lease Corporation (NYSE:AL) Receives $59.17 Consensus Target Price from Analysts

Air Lease Corporation (NYSE:AL) has been assigned a consensus recommendation of “Hold” from the nine analysts that are covering the firm, Marketbeat reports. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, five have issued a hold recommendation and three have given a buy recommendation to the company. The average 12-month price target among brokerages that have covered the stock in the last year is $59.1667.

A number of equities research analysts recently issued reports on AL shares. Zacks Research upgraded shares of Air Lease from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, January 5th. Barclays reaffirmed an “equal weight” rating and set a $65.00 price objective (down previously from $68.00) on shares of Air Lease in a report on Tuesday, January 6th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reissued a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Air Lease in a report on Wednesday, October 8th.

Air Lease Price Performance

Air Lease stock opened at $64.32 on Tuesday. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $64.07 and a 200 day simple moving average of $62.08. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.42, a current ratio of 0.43 and a quick ratio of 0.43. The company has a market capitalization of $7.19 billion, a PE ratio of 7.45, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.56 and a beta of 1.15. Air Lease has a one year low of $38.25 and a one year high of $64.40.

Air Lease (NYSE:AL) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Monday, November 3rd. The transportation company reported $1.29 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.16 by $0.13. Air Lease had a return on equity of 7.84% and a net margin of 35.08%.The firm had revenue of $725.39 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $744.59 million. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.82 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 5.1% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Air Lease will post 5.16 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Air Lease Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, January 8th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, December 4th were given a dividend of $0.22 per share. This represents a $0.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.4%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, December 4th. Air Lease’s dividend payout ratio is presently 10.20%.

Insider Transactions at Air Lease

In other news, Director Steven F. Udvar-Hazy sold 64,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, December 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $64.02, for a total transaction of $4,097,280.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 74,000 shares in the company, valued at $4,737,480. The trade was a 46.38% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, EVP Kishore Korde sold 30,160 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, November 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $63.90, for a total value of $1,927,224.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 79,263 shares in the company, valued at $5,064,905.70. This trade represents a 27.56% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders have sold a total of 760,593 shares of company stock valued at $48,668,588 over the last 90 days. 6.80% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Air Lease

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

Air Lease Company Profile

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.