Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund Decreases Stock Position in Air Lease Co. (NYSE:AL)

Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund decreased its position in shares of Air Lease Co. (NYSE:AL) by 4.6% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 56,034 shares of the transportation company’s stock after selling 2,681 shares during the period. Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund’s holdings in Air Lease were worth $2,701,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in AL. Creative Planning increased its position in shares of Air Lease by 16.5% during the third quarter. Creative Planning now owns 10,349 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $469,000 after acquiring an additional 1,464 shares during the last quarter. First Trust Direct Indexing L.P. grew its stake in Air Lease by 18.9% during the 3rd quarter. First Trust Direct Indexing L.P. now owns 7,893 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $357,000 after purchasing an additional 1,255 shares in the last quarter. US Bancorp DE grew its stake in Air Lease by 13.8% during the 3rd quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 84,295 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $3,818,000 after purchasing an additional 10,208 shares in the last quarter. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. increased its holdings in Air Lease by 109.0% during the 3rd quarter. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. now owns 161,127 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $7,297,000 after purchasing an additional 84,016 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Innealta Capital LLC raised its position in shares of Air Lease by 11.5% in the 3rd quarter. Innealta Capital LLC now owns 6,397 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $290,000 after purchasing an additional 660 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 94.59% of the company’s stock.

Air Lease Price Performance

Shares of NYSE AL opened at $47.51 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 0.37, a quick ratio of 0.37 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.68. The company has a market capitalization of $5.29 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.27, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.33 and a beta of 1.59. Air Lease Co. has a twelve month low of $39.40 and a twelve month high of $52.31. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $47.36 and a 200-day simple moving average of $46.54.

Air Lease (NYSE:AL) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 13th. The transportation company reported $1.26 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates 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 research analysts expect that Air Lease Co. will post 5.16 earnings per share for the current year.

Air Lease Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, April 7th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, March 18th will be paid a $0.22 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, March 18th. This represents a $0.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.85%. Air Lease’s payout ratio is currently 26.43%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts recently issued reports on the stock. The Goldman Sachs Group restated a “buy” rating and issued a $65.00 price target on shares of Air Lease in a research note on Thursday, November 21st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on shares of Air Lease from $56.00 to $57.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 18th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $58.50.

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.