Air Lease Corporation (NYSE:AL) Short Interest Update

Air Lease Corporation (NYSE:AL) was the target of a large growth in short interest in March. As of March 31st, there was short interest totaling 5,609,535 shares, a growth of 57.4% from the March 15th total of 3,563,640 shares. Approximately 5.4% of the company’s stock are short sold. Based on an average trading volume of 2,283,134 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 2.5 days.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Air Lease

A number of large investors have recently bought and sold shares of AL. Glazer Capital LLC raised its position in Air Lease by 1,253.0% during the 4th quarter. Glazer Capital LLC now owns 2,414,969 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $155,113,000 after buying an additional 2,236,473 shares during the last quarter. Pentwater Capital Management LP purchased a new stake in shares of Air Lease in the 3rd quarter valued at $140,030,000. AQR Capital Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Air Lease by 930.1% in the third quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 2,283,492 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $145,321,000 after acquiring an additional 2,061,817 shares during the period. UBS Group AG raised its holdings in shares of Air Lease by 269.9% during the fourth quarter. UBS Group AG now owns 2,818,667 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $181,043,000 after purchasing an additional 2,056,637 shares during the last quarter. Finally, HBK Investments L P raised its holdings in shares of Air Lease by 67.4% during the fourth quarter. HBK Investments L P now owns 4,602,260 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $295,603,000 after purchasing an additional 1,852,260 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 94.59% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts recently weighed in on AL shares. Weiss Ratings restated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Air Lease in a research note on Wednesday, January 21st. Zacks Research raised shares of Air Lease from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 18th. Finally, Barclays restated an “equal weight” rating and issued a $65.00 price target (down from $68.00) on shares of Air Lease in a report on Tuesday, January 6th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, two have given a Buy rating and three have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $66.00.

Air Lease Stock Performance

Shares of AL remained flat at $65.00 during mid-day trading on Wednesday. The company has a market capitalization of $7.28 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 6.98, a P/E/G ratio of 0.54 and a beta of 1.07. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.33, a quick ratio of 0.46 and a current ratio of 0.46. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $64.77 and its 200 day simple moving average is $64.26. Air Lease has a 12-month low of $38.25 and a 12-month high of $65.00.

Air Lease (NYSE:AL) last released its earnings results on Thursday, February 12th. The transportation company reported $2.20 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.46 by $0.74. Air Lease had a net margin of 35.72% and a return on equity of 8.54%. The company had revenue of $679.54 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $782.67 million. During the same period last year, the business earned $0.83 EPS. Air Lease’s revenue for the quarter was up 15.1% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts predict that Air Lease will post 5.16 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Air Lease Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, April 7th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 2nd were paid a $0.22 dividend. This represents a $0.88 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.4%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, March 2nd. Air Lease’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 9.45%.

About Air Lease

Air Lease Corporation (NYSE: AL) is a leading aircraft leasing company that acquires commercial jet aircraft and leases them to airlines worldwide. The firm’s core business activities include direct aircraft acquisition, lease management and portfolio remarketing. By structuring sale?and?leaseback transactions, operating leases and secured loans, Air Lease provides flexible financing solutions that enable carriers to modernize their fleets without committing large amounts of capital to ownership.

Founded in 2010 and headquartered in Los Angeles, Air Lease Corporation serves a diverse customer base spanning North America, Europe, Asia, Latin America and the Middle East.