Air Lease (NYSE:AL) was downgraded by Zacks Investment Research from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report released on Friday, Zacks.com reports. They currently have a $49.00 price objective on the transportation company’s stock. Zacks Investment Research’s target price points to a potential upside of 16.81% from the company’s previous close.
According to Zacks, “Steady growth in fleet is driving Air Lease’s top line. The company’s measures to reward its shareholders are encouraging. In November 2021, the company’s board approved a 15.6% hike in its quarterly cash dividend to 18.5 cents per share. Air Lease’s sound liquidity position is an added positive. At the end of the third quarter, the company’s total liquidity was worth $8.4 billion. The positivity surrounding the stock is evident from the upward revision of the 2022 Zacks Consensus Estimate for earnings over the past 60 days. On the flip side, the company believes that its collection rate might remain under pressure due to the effects of COVID-19. Additionally, escalating costs due to higher interest expenses and depreciation of flight equipment expenses are hurting the company’s bottom line.”
A number of other brokerages have also recently commented on AL. Barclays raised their price objective on Air Lease from $56.00 to $61.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, January 10th. Credit Suisse Group lifted their target price on Air Lease from $49.00 to $51.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, November 5th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $53.80.
Shares of AL opened at $41.95 on Friday. The business has a 50-day moving average of $43.96 and a 200-day moving average of $42.32. Air Lease has a 1 year low of $36.52 and a 1 year high of $52.96. The company has a market capitalization of $4.78 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.87, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.61 and a beta of 2.02. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.68, a current ratio of 3.49 and a quick ratio of 3.49.
Air Lease (NYSE:AL) last released its earnings results on Thursday, November 4th. The transportation company reported $0.87 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.69 by $0.18. Air Lease had a return on equity of 6.19% and a net margin of 19.99%. The business had revenue of $524.50 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $484.58 million. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $1.02 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 6.2% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Air Lease will post 3.12 EPS for the current year.
In other Air Lease news, EVP Alex A. Khatibi sold 15,625 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, November 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $45.50, for a total value of $710,937.50. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Insiders own 6.46% of the company’s stock.
Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Sciencast Management LP purchased a new position in Air Lease during the fourth quarter worth about $815,000. Parkside Investments LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Air Lease by 4.0% in the 4th quarter. Parkside Investments LLC now owns 163,150 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $7,216,000 after purchasing an additional 6,295 shares in the last quarter. Barton Investment Management boosted its holdings in shares of Air Lease by 1.1% in the 4th quarter. Barton Investment Management now owns 714,561 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $31,605,000 after purchasing an additional 7,783 shares in the last quarter. Richard P Slaughter Associates Inc boosted its holdings in shares of Air Lease by 1.5% in the 4th quarter. Richard P Slaughter Associates Inc now owns 64,702 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $2,861,000 after purchasing an additional 973 shares in the last quarter. Finally, IFP Advisors Inc boosted its holdings in shares of Air Lease by 5.7% in the 4th quarter. IFP Advisors Inc now owns 9,675 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $438,000 after purchasing an additional 526 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 89.55% of the company’s stock.
About Air Lease
Air Lease Corp. engages in the provision of aircraft leasing business. It focuses on purchasing new commercial jet transport aircraft directly from aircraft manufacturers, and leasing those aircraft to airlines throughout the world with the intention to generate attractive returns on equity. The company was founded by Steven F.