Air Lease (NYSE:AL) Reaches New 52-Week High – Still a Buy?

Air Lease Co. (NYSE:AL) shares reached a new 52-week high on Wednesday . The company traded as high as $52.89 and last traded at $52.59, with a volume of 2597282 shares traded. The stock had previously closed at $48.76.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

AL has been the subject of several analyst reports. UBS Group set a $50.00 price target on shares of Air Lease in a research note on Friday, March 7th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on Air Lease from $56.00 to $57.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 18th. Finally, Bank of America downgraded shares of Air Lease from a “buy” rating to an “underperform” rating and decreased their target price for the company from $72.00 to $50.00 in a research report on Friday, March 7th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating and four have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $55.67.

Air Lease Stock Performance

The stock has a market capitalization of $5.88 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.79, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.33 and a beta of 1.33. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $45.50 and a 200-day simple moving average of $46.94. The company has a quick ratio of 0.37, a current ratio of 0.37 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.68.

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

Air Lease Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, July 9th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, June 4th will be paid a $0.22 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, June 4th. This represents a $0.88 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.67%. Air Lease’s dividend payout ratio is presently 26.43%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Air Lease

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its holdings in shares of Air Lease by 7.2% in the 4th quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 5,384,230 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $259,574,000 after purchasing an additional 362,585 shares in the last quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC lifted its stake in shares of Air Lease by 19.7% in the first quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 3,353,803 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $162,492,000 after buying an additional 553,080 shares in the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Air Lease by 13.7% in the fourth quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 3,226,921 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $155,570,000 after buying an additional 389,070 shares in the last quarter. Earnest Partners LLC grew its holdings in shares of Air Lease by 0.4% during the fourth quarter. Earnest Partners LLC now owns 2,577,931 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $124,282,000 after buying an additional 9,809 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Capital Research Global Investors raised its holdings in shares of Air Lease by 50.7% in the 4th quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 2,050,000 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $98,830,000 after acquiring an additional 690,000 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 94.59% of the company’s stock.

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.