United Services Automobile Association Acquires New Position in Air Lease Corporation $AL

Key Points

• The United Services Automobile Association has acquired a new stake in Air Lease Corporation, purchasing 6,837 shares for approximately $330,000.
• In recent trading, Barclays set an overweight rating for the stock, raising its target price to $67.00, while other analysts have varied opinions on the company, with a consensus rating of Hold.
• Air Lease announced a quarterly dividend of $0.22, to be paid on October 8th, reflecting an annualized yield of 1.4%.

United Services Automobile Association purchased a new position in shares of Air Lease Corporation (NYSE:AL - Free Report) during the first quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor purchased 6,837 shares of the transportation company's stock, valued at approximately $330,000.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. M&T Bank Corp raised its position in shares of Air Lease by 3.6% during the 1st quarter. M&T Bank Corp now owns 14,793 shares of the transportation company's stock worth $714,000 after purchasing an additional 508 shares during the period. Bessemer Group Inc. raised its position in shares of Air Lease by 18.7% during the 1st quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. now owns 10,410 shares of the transportation company's stock worth $503,000 after purchasing an additional 1,640 shares during the period. Verity Asset Management Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Air Lease during the first quarter worth approximately $348,000. Neo Ivy Capital Management acquired a new position in shares of Air Lease during the first quarter worth approximately $1,347,000. Finally, LPL Financial LLC boosted its position in shares of Air Lease by 11.3% during the first quarter. LPL Financial LLC now owns 45,244 shares of the transportation company's stock worth $2,186,000 after buying an additional 4,601 shares during the period. 94.59% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts have recently issued reports on AL shares. Barclays reiterated an "overweight" rating and set a $67.00 price objective (up from $56.00) on shares of Air Lease in a research report on Thursday, July 10th. TD Cowen downgraded Air Lease from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Wednesday, September 3rd. Cowen downgraded Air Lease from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Wednesday, September 3rd. Citigroup upgraded Air Lease from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and boosted their price objective for the stock from $45.00 to $68.00 in a research report on Tuesday, May 20th. Finally, 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 research note on Wednesday, September 3rd. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, three have issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $60.29.

Air Lease Trading Up 0.1%

Shares of Air Lease stock traded up $0.04 during trading on Monday, hitting $63.56. The stock had a trading volume of 3,438,905 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,441,698. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $58.96 and a 200 day simple moving average of $53.79. The company has a market capitalization of $7.10 billion, a PE ratio of 7.71, a P/E/G ratio of 0.65 and a beta of 1.37. The company has a quick ratio of 0.42, a current ratio of 0.42 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.47. Air Lease Corporation has a 1 year low of $38.25 and a 1 year high of $64.30.

Air Lease (NYSE:AL - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Monday, August 4th. The transportation company reported $1.40 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.33 by $0.07. The business had revenue of $731.70 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $723.35 million. Air Lease had a net margin of 34.04% and a return on equity of 7.99%. The firm's quarterly revenue was up 9.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm posted $1.23 earnings per share. On average, research analysts expect that Air Lease Corporation will post 5.16 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Air Lease Announces Dividend

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

Insider Buying and Selling at Air Lease

In other news, EVP David Beker sold 2,000 shares of Air Lease stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, August 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $55.44, for a total value of $110,880.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 19,770 shares of the company's stock, valued at $1,096,048.80. This trade represents a 9.19% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. 6.80% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.