Air Lease Corporation $AL Position Raised by Great Lakes Advisors LLC

Key Points

• Great Lakes Advisors LLC increased its stake in Air Lease Corporation by 549.1%, acquiring an additional 33,063 shares, bringing its total holdings to 39,084 shares valued at $1,888,000.
• Analysts have mixed views on Air Lease, with four research firms rating it as "Buy" and others downgrading it; the current consensus rating is "Hold" with an average price target of $60.29.
• Air Lease announced a quarterly dividend of $0.22 per share, yielding 1.4%, with the ex-dividend date set for September 3rd.

Great Lakes Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of Air Lease Corporation (NYSE:AL - Free Report) by 549.1% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 39,084 shares of the transportation company's stock after acquiring an additional 33,063 shares during the quarter. Great Lakes Advisors LLC's holdings in Air Lease were worth $1,888,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Caxton Associates LLP acquired a new stake in Air Lease during the first quarter worth approximately $2,873,000. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of Air Lease by 5.0% in the first quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 326,717 shares of the transportation company's stock worth $15,784,000 after acquiring an additional 15,629 shares during the last quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp boosted its position in shares of Air Lease by 493.5% in the first quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp now owns 8,884 shares of the transportation company's stock worth $429,000 after acquiring an additional 7,387 shares during the last quarter. Uniplan Investment Counsel Inc. boosted its position in shares of Air Lease by 48.2% in the first quarter. Uniplan Investment Counsel Inc. now owns 30,166 shares of the transportation company's stock worth $1,457,000 after acquiring an additional 9,815 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Millennium Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Air Lease by 1,675.1% in the first quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 204,000 shares of the transportation company's stock worth $9,855,000 after acquiring an additional 192,508 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 94.59% of the company's stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Air Lease news, EVP David Beker sold 2,000 shares of Air Lease stock in a transaction on Thursday, August 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $55.44, for a total transaction of $110,880.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president owned 19,770 shares of the company's stock, valued at $1,096,048.80. The trade was a 9.19% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. 6.80% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

AL has been the topic of several research analyst reports. TD Cowen cut shares of Air Lease from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Wednesday, September 3rd. Cowen lowered Air Lease from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Wednesday, September 3rd. Barclays restated an "overweight" rating and set a $67.00 price objective (up previously from $56.00) on shares of Air Lease in a research note on Thursday, July 10th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lowered shares of Air Lease from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating and set a $65.00 price objective on the stock. in a report on Wednesday, September 3rd. Finally, Citigroup upgraded shares of Air Lease from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and raised their price target for the stock from $45.00 to $68.00 in a research report on Tuesday, May 20th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, three have given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Air Lease presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $60.29.

Air Lease Stock Performance

AL stock traded down $0.02 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, reaching $63.55. The company had a trading volume of 2,288,751 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,055,557. The company has a quick ratio of 0.42, a current ratio of 0.42 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.47. The stock has a market capitalization of $7.10 billion, a P/E ratio of 7.71, a P/E/G ratio of 0.65 and a beta of 1.37. Air Lease Corporation has a one year low of $38.25 and a one year high of $64.30. The stock's 50-day simple moving average is $58.96 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $53.79.

Air Lease (NYSE:AL - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Monday, August 4th. The transportation company reported $1.40 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.33 by $0.07. The firm had revenue of $731.70 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $723.35 million. Air Lease had a return on equity of 7.99% and a net margin of 34.04%.The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 9.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $1.23 EPS. Research analysts anticipate that Air Lease Corporation will post 5.16 EPS for the current year.

Air Lease Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, October 8th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, September 3rd will be paid a dividend of $0.22 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, September 3rd. This represents a $0.88 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.4%. Air Lease's payout ratio is presently 10.68%.

Air Lease Company Profile

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.