High Ground Investment Management LLP Acquires 427,651 Shares of Aercap Holdings N.V. $AER

Key Points

• High Ground Investment Management LLP boosted its Aercap (NYSE: AER) holding by 57.1% in Q4, buying 427,651 shares to own 1,176,170 shares, which now make up about 24.6% of the fund's portfolio and represent roughly $169.1M (≈0.63% of Aercap).
• Aercap beat Q4 estimates, reporting $3.95 EPS vs. $3.31 expected and $2.36B revenue vs. $2.07B expected, with a 44% net margin and analysts forecasting about 11.29 EPS for the year.
• The company increased its quarterly dividend to $0.40 (annualized $1.60) from $0.27, implying a ~1.1% yield and a low payout ratio of 7.5%.

High Ground Investment Management LLP lifted its holdings in shares of Aercap Holdings N.V. (NYSE:AER - Free Report) by 57.1% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 1,176,170 shares of the financial services provider's stock after purchasing an additional 427,651 shares during the quarter. Aercap comprises about 24.6% of High Ground Investment Management LLP's investment portfolio, making the stock its 2nd biggest position. High Ground Investment Management LLP owned about 0.63% of Aercap worth $169,086,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Aercap during the fourth quarter worth $27,000. Mather Group LLC. acquired a new stake in shares of Aercap during the third quarter worth $26,000. Advisory Services Network LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Aercap during the third quarter worth $35,000. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Aercap by 36.5% during the fourth quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 359 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $52,000 after purchasing an additional 96 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Geneos Wealth Management Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Aercap by 26.6% during the first quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. now owns 447 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $46,000 after purchasing an additional 94 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 96.42% of the company's stock.

Aercap Trading Up 0.1%

Shares of AER opened at $145.70 on Monday. The stock's fifty day simple moving average is $142.45 and its 200 day simple moving average is $137.59. The company has a current ratio of 0.23, a quick ratio of 0.23 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.38. Aercap Holdings N.V. has a twelve month low of $89.41 and a twelve month high of $154.94. The firm has a market capitalization of $24.31 billion, a P/E ratio of 6.83, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.28 and a beta of 0.99.

Aercap (NYSE:AER - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Saturday, February 7th. The financial services provider reported $3.95 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.31 by $0.64. Aercap had a return on equity of 15.11% and a net margin of 44.04%.The company had revenue of $2.36 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.07 billion. During the same period last year, the company posted $3.31 earnings per share. The firm's revenue was up 8.3% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Aercap Holdings N.V. will post 11.29 earnings per share for the current year.

Aercap Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 19th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, February 25th were given a $0.40 dividend. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.1%. This is a boost from Aercap's previous quarterly dividend of $0.27. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, February 25th. Aercap's dividend payout ratio is 7.50%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages recently weighed in on AER. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft set a $175.00 target price on Aercap and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 10th. Barclays increased their target price on Aercap from $144.00 to $162.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 6th. Zacks Research lowered Aercap from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 30th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a "buy (b+)" rating on shares of Aercap in a research report on Wednesday, January 21st. Finally, TD Cowen reaffirmed a "buy" rating on shares of Aercap in a research report on Monday, March 16th. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Aercap presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $153.38.

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.

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