Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. Sells 26,968 Shares of Air Lease Corporation $AL

Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. cut its stake in Air Lease Corporation (NYSE:AL) by 90.9% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 2,699 shares of the transportation company’s stock after selling 26,968 shares during the quarter. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc.’s holdings in Air Lease were worth $173,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its stake in shares of Air Lease by 0.6% in the 3rd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 6,591,387 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $419,540,000 after acquiring an additional 41,975 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp increased its stake in Air Lease by 0.8% during the 2nd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 3,459,048 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $203,084,000 after purchasing an additional 28,227 shares in the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC increased its stake in Air Lease by 930.1% during the 3rd quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 2,283,492 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $145,321,000 after purchasing an additional 2,061,817 shares in the last quarter. Pentwater Capital Management LP bought a new stake in Air Lease during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $140,030,000. Finally, Magnetar Financial LLC bought a new stake in Air Lease during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $100,534,000. 94.59% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts recently issued reports on AL shares. Zacks Research raised Air Lease from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 18th. Barclays reissued an “equal weight” rating and set a $65.00 target price (down from $68.00) on shares of Air Lease in a research note on Tuesday, January 6th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reissued a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Air Lease in a research note on Wednesday, January 21st. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, two have assigned a Buy rating and three have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Air Lease currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $66.00.

Air Lease Price Performance

NYSE AL opened at $65.00 on Wednesday. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $64.72 and a 200 day simple moving average of $64.20. Air Lease Corporation has a 52-week low of $38.25 and a 52-week high of $65.00. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.33, a quick ratio of 0.46 and a current ratio of 0.46. The stock has a market cap of $7.28 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 6.98, a PEG ratio of 0.54 and a beta of 1.07.

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

Air Lease Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, April 7th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 2nd were paid a dividend of $0.22 per share. This represents a $0.88 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.4%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 2nd. Air Lease’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 9.45%.

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.