First Citizens Bank & Trust Co. Makes New $303,000 Investment in Air Lease Co. (NYSE:AL)

First Citizens Bank & Trust Co. purchased a new stake in shares of Air Lease Co. (NYSE:AL) during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor purchased 6,264 shares of the transportation company’s stock, valued at approximately $303,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of AL. SBI Securities Co. Ltd. acquired a new position in Air Lease in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $31,000. Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV bought a new stake in shares of Air Lease during the 4th quarter valued at $202,000. Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Air Lease in the 4th quarter valued at $31,414,000. Lighthouse Investment Partners LLC boosted its position in shares of Air Lease by 1,944.9% in the 4th quarter. Lighthouse Investment Partners LLC now owns 129,261 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $6,232,000 after purchasing an additional 122,940 shares during the last quarter. Finally, BNP Paribas Financial Markets boosted its position in shares of Air Lease by 46.0% in the 4th quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 5,063 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $244,000 after purchasing an additional 1,595 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 94.59% of the company’s stock.

Air Lease Trading Down 1.0%

NYSE:AL opened at $57.48 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.68, a current ratio of 0.37 and a quick ratio of 0.37. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $50.48 and its 200-day simple moving average is $48.72. Air Lease Co. has a fifty-two week low of $38.25 and a fifty-two week high of $59.27. The stock has a market capitalization of $6.42 billion, a PE ratio of 17.26, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.33 and a beta of 1.36.

Air Lease (NYSE:AL) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Monday, May 5th. The transportation company reported $1.51 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.24 by $0.27. The firm had revenue of $738.28 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $709.70 million. Air Lease had a net margin of 15.65% and a return on equity of 8.01%. The business’s revenue was up 11.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.87 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts expect that Air Lease Co. will post 5.16 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Air Lease Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, July 9th. Investors of record on Wednesday, June 4th will be given a $0.22 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, June 4th. This represents a $0.88 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.53%. Air Lease’s dividend payout ratio is currently 15.38%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Air Lease news, EVP Grant A. Levy sold 10,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, May 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $56.85, for a total value of $568,500.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 146,316 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,318,064.60. The trade was a 6.40% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Company insiders own 6.64% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

AL has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on Air Lease from $56.00 to $57.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 18th. Citigroup upgraded Air Lease from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their target price for the stock from $45.00 to $68.00 in a research report on Tuesday, May 20th. Bank of America downgraded shares of Air Lease from a “buy” rating to an “underperform” rating and cut their price target for the company from $72.00 to $50.00 in a research report on Friday, March 7th. UBS Group set a $50.00 price objective on shares of Air Lease in a research note on Friday, March 7th. Finally, Wall Street Zen raised shares of Air Lease from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 7th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Air Lease presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $57.43.

About Air Lease

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.