William Blair Investment Management LLC Trims Stock Position in Air Lease Corporation $AL

William Blair Investment Management LLC reduced its holdings in shares of Air Lease Corporation (NYSE:AL) by 29.2% in the third quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 348,305 shares of the transportation company’s stock after selling 143,506 shares during the period. William Blair Investment Management LLC’s holdings in Air Lease were worth $22,170,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Archer Investment Corp raised its stake in shares of Air Lease by 5.1% in the third quarter. Archer Investment Corp now owns 3,415 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $217,000 after buying an additional 165 shares during the period. Sage Rhino Capital LLC increased its holdings in Air Lease by 4.8% in the 3rd quarter. Sage Rhino Capital LLC now owns 3,982 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $253,000 after acquiring an additional 181 shares in the last quarter. Eastern Bank increased its holdings in Air Lease by 33.2% in the 3rd quarter. Eastern Bank now owns 799 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $51,000 after acquiring an additional 199 shares in the last quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. raised its stake in Air Lease by 1.9% during the 3rd quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 11,153 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $710,000 after acquiring an additional 205 shares during the period. Finally, Hantz Financial Services Inc. lifted its holdings in Air Lease by 75.0% during the third quarter. Hantz Financial Services Inc. now owns 546 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $35,000 after purchasing an additional 234 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 94.59% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts have recently commented on the stock. Weiss Ratings restated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Air Lease in a research report on Wednesday, January 21st. Zacks Research upgraded Air Lease from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 18th. Finally, Barclays reissued an “equal weight” rating and set a $65.00 price target (down from $68.00) on shares of Air Lease in a report on Tuesday, January 6th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, two have assigned a Buy rating, three have assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $59.60.

Air Lease Price Performance

AL stock opened at $64.71 on Tuesday. Air Lease Corporation has a 52 week low of $38.25 and a 52 week high of $64.96. The firm has a market capitalization of $7.25 billion, a P/E ratio of 6.95, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.54 and a beta of 1.11. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $64.48 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $63.64. The company has a quick ratio of 0.46, a current ratio of 0.46 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.33.

Air Lease (NYSE:AL) last released its earnings results on Thursday, February 12th. The transportation company reported $2.20 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.46 by $0.74. Air Lease had a return on equity of 8.54% and a net margin of 35.72%.The firm had revenue of $679.54 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $782.67 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.83 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 15.1% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts anticipate that Air Lease Corporation will post 5.16 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Air Lease Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 7th. Investors of record on Monday, March 2nd will be issued a dividend of $0.22 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 2nd. This represents a $0.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.4%. Air Lease’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 9.45%.

Insider Activity at Air Lease

In other news, Director Steven F. Udvar-Hazy sold 19,000 shares of Air Lease stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $64.12, for a total transaction of $1,218,280.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 1,391,366 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $89,214,387.92. The trade was a 1.35% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, EVP Kishore Korde sold 20,662 shares of Air Lease stock in a transaction on Monday, December 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $64.10, for a total value of $1,324,434.20. Following the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 50,091 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,210,833.10. This trade represents a 29.20% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders sold 595,958 shares of company stock worth $38,158,193 in the last 90 days. 6.80% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

About Air Lease

Air Lease Corporation (NYSE: AL) is a leading aircraft leasing company that acquires commercial jet aircraft and leases them to airlines worldwide. The firm’s core business activities include direct aircraft acquisition, lease management and portfolio remarketing. By structuring sale‐and‐leaseback transactions, operating leases and secured loans, Air Lease provides flexible financing solutions that enable carriers to modernize their fleets without committing large amounts of capital to ownership.

Founded in 2010 and headquartered in Los Angeles, Air Lease Corporation serves a diverse customer base spanning North America, Europe, Asia, Latin America and the Middle East.