William Blair Investment Management LLC Boosts Stock Holdings in Air Lease Co. (NYSE:AL)

William Blair Investment Management LLC grew its position in shares of Air Lease Co. (NYSE:AL) by 32.1% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 799,478 shares of the transportation company’s stock after buying an additional 194,189 shares during the quarter. William Blair Investment Management LLC’s holdings in Air Lease were worth $38,543,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in AL. State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D grew its holdings in shares of Air Lease by 4.2% during the third quarter. State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D now owns 43,206 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $1,957,000 after buying an additional 1,734 shares during the last quarter. KBC Group NV grew its holdings in shares of Air Lease by 20.0% during the third quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 3,345 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $151,000 after buying an additional 557 shares during the last quarter. Natixis Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of Air Lease by 8.6% during the third quarter. Natixis Advisors LLC now owns 204,577 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $9,266,000 after buying an additional 16,184 shares during the last quarter. Factorial Partners LLC grew its holdings in shares of Air Lease by 10.7% during the third quarter. Factorial Partners LLC now owns 79,700 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $3,610,000 after buying an additional 7,700 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. purchased a new stake in shares of Air Lease during the third quarter valued at approximately $872,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 94.59% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have recently commented on AL. The Goldman Sachs Group reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $65.00 price target on shares of Air Lease in a report on Thursday, November 21st. UBS Group set a $50.00 price objective on shares of Air Lease in a research report on Friday, March 7th. Bank of America downgraded shares of Air Lease from a “buy” rating to an “underperform” rating and lowered their price objective for the company from $72.00 to $50.00 in a research report on Friday, March 7th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on shares of Air Lease from $56.00 to $57.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 18th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has assigned a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $55.67.

Air Lease Trading Up 1.8 %

Shares of Air Lease stock opened at $46.83 on Tuesday. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $46.67 and its 200-day simple moving average is $46.62. The stock has a market capitalization of $5.22 billion, a PE ratio of 14.06, a P/E/G ratio of 1.33 and a beta of 1.60. Air Lease Co. has a 1-year low of $39.43 and a 1-year high of $52.31. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.68, a current ratio of 0.37 and a quick ratio of 0.37.

Air Lease (NYSE:AL) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 13th. The transportation company reported $1.26 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.82 by $0.44. Air Lease had a net margin of 15.65% and a return on equity of 8.01%. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Air Lease Co. will post 5.16 earnings per share for the current year.

Air Lease Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, April 7th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, March 18th will be paid a dividend of $0.22 per share. This represents a $0.88 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.88%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, March 18th. Air Lease’s dividend payout ratio is presently 26.43%.

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.