American Century Companies Inc. Acquires 389,070 Shares of Air Lease Co. (NYSE:AL)

American Century Companies Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Air Lease Co. (NYSE:AL) by 13.7% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 3,226,921 shares of the transportation company’s stock after purchasing an additional 389,070 shares during the period. American Century Companies Inc. owned 2.90% of Air Lease worth $155,570,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of AL. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC boosted its stake in shares of Air Lease by 43.0% during the fourth quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 2,800,723 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $134,332,000 after purchasing an additional 842,780 shares in the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new position in shares of Air Lease during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $31,414,000. Loomis Sayles & Co. L P bought a new position in shares of Air Lease during the third quarter valued at approximately $18,289,000. William Blair Investment Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Air Lease by 32.1% during the fourth quarter. William Blair Investment Management LLC now owns 799,478 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $38,543,000 after purchasing an additional 194,189 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp boosted its stake in shares of Air Lease by 14.8% during the fourth quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 1,022,459 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $49,293,000 after purchasing an additional 131,453 shares in the last quarter. 94.59% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts recently commented on AL shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their target price 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. UBS Group set a $50.00 target price on shares of Air Lease in a research report on Friday, March 7th. Finally, Bank of America cut 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, one has given a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Air Lease presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $55.67.

Air Lease Trading Down 0.7 %

Shares of Air Lease stock opened at $47.07 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.68, a current ratio of 0.37 and a quick ratio of 0.37. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $46.68 and a 200 day moving average price of $46.66. Air Lease Co. has a 1 year low of $39.43 and a 1 year high of $52.31. The stock has a market cap of $5.26 billion, a PE ratio of 14.14, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.33 and a beta of 1.60.

Air Lease (NYSE:AL) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, February 13th. The transportation company reported $1.26 earnings per share (EPS) 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%. Equities research analysts predict that Air Lease Co. will post 5.16 earnings per share for the current year.

Air Lease Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, April 7th. Investors of record on Tuesday, March 18th will be given a dividend of $0.22 per share. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, March 18th. This represents a $0.88 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.87%. Air Lease’s dividend payout ratio is presently 26.43%.

Air Lease Company Profile

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.