Air Lease Co. (NYSE:AL) Given Average Rating of “Buy” by Brokerages

Shares of Air Lease Co. (NYSE:AL) have been assigned a consensus rating of “Buy” from the four ratings firms that are presently covering the firm, MarketBeat.com reports. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a buy recommendation. The average twelve-month price target among analysts that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $58.50.

A number of equities analysts have recently commented on AL shares. The Goldman Sachs Group reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $65.00 price objective on shares of Air Lease in a report on Thursday, November 21st. Bank of America downgraded shares of Air Lease from a “buy” rating to an “underperform” rating and reduced their target price for the company from $72.00 to $50.00 in a research note on Friday. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their target price on shares of Air Lease from $56.00 to $57.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 18th.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Air Lease

A number of institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Creative Planning increased its holdings in shares of Air Lease by 16.5% in the third quarter. Creative Planning now owns 10,349 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $469,000 after purchasing an additional 1,464 shares in the last quarter. QRG Capital Management Inc. boosted its position in Air Lease by 18.6% in the 3rd quarter. QRG Capital Management Inc. now owns 7,979 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $361,000 after buying an additional 1,253 shares during the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of Air Lease by 9.2% in the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 830,047 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $37,591,000 after buying an additional 69,887 shares during the period. Verity Asset Management Inc. raised its position in shares of Air Lease by 10.0% during the third quarter. Verity Asset Management Inc. now owns 11,160 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $505,000 after acquiring an additional 1,019 shares during the last quarter. Finally, State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D lifted its stake in shares of Air Lease by 4.2% during the third quarter. State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D now owns 43,206 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $1,957,000 after acquiring an additional 1,734 shares during the period. 94.59% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Air Lease Trading Down 1.1 %

Shares of AL stock opened at $46.28 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 0.37, a quick ratio of 0.37 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.68. Air Lease has a 1 year low of $39.43 and a 1 year high of $52.31. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $47.17 and its 200 day simple moving average is $46.63. The firm has a market capitalization of $5.15 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.90, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.33 and a beta of 1.59.

Air Lease (NYSE:AL) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 13th. The transportation company reported $1.26 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.82 by $0.44. Air Lease had a return on equity of 8.01% and a net margin of 15.65%. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Air Lease will post 5.16 EPS for the current year.

Air Lease Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, April 7th. Investors of record on Tuesday, March 18th will be given a dividend of $0.22 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, March 18th. This represents a $0.88 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.90%. Air Lease’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 26.43%.

About Air Lease

Air Lease Corporation, an aircraft leasing company, engages in the purchase and leasing of commercial jet aircraft to airlines worldwide. It sells aircraft from its fleet to third parties, including other leasing companies, financial services companies, airlines, and other investors. The company provides fleet management services to investors and owners of aircraft portfolios.