Douglas Lane & Associates LLC Sells 56,989 Shares of Air Lease Co. (NYSE:AL)

Douglas Lane & Associates LLC trimmed its position in Air Lease Co. (NYSE:AL) by 5.5% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 983,204 shares of the transportation company’s stock after selling 56,989 shares during the quarter. Douglas Lane & Associates LLC’s holdings in Air Lease were worth $41,236,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of Air Lease by 2.0% during the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 9,709,215 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $301,082,000 after buying an additional 194,211 shares during the period. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its position in shares of Air Lease by 48.0% during the second quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 6,722,960 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $281,356,000 after buying an additional 2,180,549 shares during the period. BlackRock Inc. boosted its position in shares of Air Lease by 1.6% during the first quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 5,763,177 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $257,324,000 after buying an additional 90,225 shares during the period. Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its position in shares of Air Lease by 36.7% during the first quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 5,446,382 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $243,180,000 after buying an additional 1,460,769 shares during the period. Finally, Invesco Ltd. boosted its position in shares of Air Lease by 141.3% during the first quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 3,714,362 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $165,846,000 after buying an additional 2,175,100 shares during the period. 94.59% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts recently issued reports on AL shares. BMO Capital Markets boosted their price target on Air Lease from $54.00 to $55.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 20th. Barclays boosted their price target on Air Lease from $46.00 to $48.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, January 25th. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded Air Lease from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $51.50.

Air Lease Stock Up 1.9 %

Shares of AL stock traded up $0.91 during trading hours on Monday, reaching $49.20. 1,211,201 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,437,837. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $42.50 and its 200-day moving average is $39.93. The company has a market cap of $5.48 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.55, a P/E/G ratio of 0.73 and a beta of 1.62. The company has a current ratio of 0.40, a quick ratio of 0.40 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.68. Air Lease Co. has a fifty-two week low of $33.33 and a fifty-two week high of $49.66.

Air Lease (NYSE:AL) last released its earnings results on Thursday, February 15th. The transportation company reported $1.89 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.10 by $0.79. Air Lease had a return on equity of 8.87% and a net margin of 22.89%. The firm had revenue of $716.57 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $672.95 million. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $1.21 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 19.1% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts predict that Air Lease Co. will post 5.64 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Air Lease Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 10th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 15th will be issued a $0.21 dividend. This represents a $0.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.71%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, March 14th. Air Lease’s payout ratio is 16.31%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Air Lease

In other news, EVP Kishore Korde sold 16,593 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $39.70, for a total transaction of $658,742.10. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 112,375 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,461,287.50. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. In other Air Lease news, EVP Kishore Korde sold 16,593 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $39.70, for a total value of $658,742.10. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 112,375 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,461,287.50. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Carol Hyland Forsyte sold 3,046 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $40.02, for a total transaction of $121,900.92. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 72,073 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,884,361.46. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 89,646 shares of company stock valued at $3,705,152. 6.64% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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.