Merit Financial Group LLC Makes New $475,000 Investment in AerCap Holdings (NYSE:AER)

Merit Financial Group LLC acquired a new stake in AerCap Holdings (NYSE:AER - Free Report) in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm acquired 4,652 shares of the financial services provider's stock, valued at approximately $475,000.

Several other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of AER. Bank of New York Mellon Corp grew its stake in AerCap by 1.0% during the 4th quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 446,303 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $42,711,000 after purchasing an additional 4,222 shares during the last quarter. O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC lifted its position in shares of AerCap by 11.3% during the 4th quarter. O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC now owns 18,664 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $1,786,000 after buying an additional 1,900 shares in the last quarter. Lyrical Asset Management LP raised its position in shares of AerCap by 1.3% during the 4th quarter. Lyrical Asset Management LP now owns 3,097,840 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $296,463,000 after purchasing an additional 38,264 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its stake in AerCap by 1.5% in the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 234,487 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $22,440,000 after purchasing an additional 3,542 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Benjamin Edwards Inc. grew its stake in AerCap by 345.0% during the 4th quarter. Benjamin Edwards Inc. now owns 19,423 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $1,859,000 after acquiring an additional 15,058 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 96.42% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have commented on AER. Morgan Stanley lifted their target price on shares of AerCap from $101.00 to $111.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Bank of America upped their price objective on AerCap from $105.00 to $125.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Friday, March 7th. Barclays reiterated an "overweight" rating and issued a $115.00 price objective (up previously from $113.00) on shares of AerCap in a report on Thursday, February 27th. UBS Group downgraded shares of AerCap to an "underperform" rating in a research report on Friday, March 7th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price target on shares of AerCap from $112.00 to $114.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has issued a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, AerCap has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $119.25.

AerCap Trading Down 0.5%

Shares of AER stock traded down $0.56 on Friday, reaching $115.69. 1,268,077 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,381,325. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $107.34 and a two-hundred day moving average of $101.17. The stock has a market cap of $21.61 billion, a P/E ratio of 9.17, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.22 and a beta of 1.39. AerCap Holdings has a 1-year low of $82.21 and a 1-year high of $118.07. The company has a quick ratio of 0.67, a current ratio of 0.67 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.89.

AerCap (NYSE:AER - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 30th. The financial services provider reported $3.68 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.69 by $0.99. The firm had revenue of $2.08 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.01 billion. AerCap had a net margin of 32.38% and a return on equity of 13.98%. The firm's quarterly revenue was up 2.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $3.29 EPS. On average, research analysts anticipate that AerCap Holdings will post 11.29 EPS for the current year.

AerCap Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, June 5th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, May 14th were paid a $0.27 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, May 14th. This represents a $1.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.93%. AerCap's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 9.58%.

AerCap declared that its board has approved a share repurchase program on Wednesday, February 26th that allows the company to repurchase $1.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization allows the financial services provider to reacquire up to 4.9% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are usually an indication that the company's board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

About AerCap

AerCap Holdings N.V. engages in the lease, financing, sale, and management of commercial flight equipment in China, Hong Kong, Macau, the United States, Ireland, and internationally. The company offers aircraft asset management services, such as remarketing aircraft and engines; collecting rental and maintenance rent payments, monitoring aircraft maintenance, monitoring and enforcing contract compliance, and accepting delivery and redelivery of aircraft and engines; and conducting ongoing lessee financial performance reviews.