AerCap Holdings (NYSE:AER) Shares Bought by Aristides Capital LLC

Aristides Capital LLC lifted its stake in shares of AerCap Holdings (NYSE:AER) by 12.1% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 33,630 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after buying an additional 3,630 shares during the period. AerCap comprises about 0.7% of Aristides Capital LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 22nd largest position. Aristides Capital LLC’s holdings in AerCap were worth $3,218,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in AER. Lyrical Asset Management LP lifted its stake in AerCap by 1.3% in the fourth quarter. Lyrical Asset Management LP now owns 3,097,840 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $296,463,000 after buying an additional 38,264 shares during the last quarter. Ilmarinen Mutual Pension Insurance Co acquired a new stake in shares of AerCap in the 4th quarter worth about $6,221,000. Russell Investments Group Ltd. lifted its position in AerCap by 13.7% in the 4th quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. now owns 1,032,293 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $98,788,000 after purchasing an additional 124,539 shares during the last quarter. Perennial Investment Advisors LLC boosted its stake in AerCap by 5.4% during the 4th quarter. Perennial Investment Advisors LLC now owns 5,898 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $564,000 after purchasing an additional 304 shares during the period. Finally, Aviva PLC grew its position in AerCap by 137.1% in the 4th quarter. Aviva PLC now owns 222,045 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $21,250,000 after purchasing an additional 128,405 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 96.42% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have recently weighed in on AER shares. Barclays reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and set a $115.00 price target (up previously from $113.00) on shares of AerCap in a report on Thursday, February 27th. Bank of America lifted their target price on AerCap from $105.00 to $125.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, March 7th. Susquehanna increased their price target on AerCap from $108.00 to $120.00 and gave the stock a “positive” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 27th. Finally, UBS Group cut shares of AerCap to an “underperform” rating in a research note on Friday, March 7th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has issued a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $117.43.

AerCap Stock Down 9.3 %

Shares of AER stock opened at $89.51 on Friday. AerCap Holdings has a 1 year low of $81.93 and a 1 year high of $107.36. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.89, a quick ratio of 0.67 and a current ratio of 0.67. The business’s fifty day moving average is $100.01 and its 200-day moving average is $97.31. The stock has a market cap of $16.72 billion, a PE ratio of 7.09, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.22 and a beta of 1.45.

AerCap (NYSE:AER) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, February 26th. The financial services provider reported $3.31 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.56 by $0.75. AerCap had a return on equity of 13.98% and a net margin of 32.38%. The firm had revenue of $2.07 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.97 billion. Equities analysts expect that AerCap Holdings will post 11.29 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

AerCap declared that its board has initiated a stock buyback plan on Wednesday, February 26th that authorizes the company to repurchase $1.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the financial services provider to reacquire up to 4.9% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are usually a sign that the company’s board believes its shares are undervalued.

AerCap Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, April 3rd. Investors of record on Wednesday, March 12th were paid a dividend of $0.27 per share. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, March 12th. This is a positive change from AerCap’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.25. This represents a $1.08 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.21%. AerCap’s dividend payout ratio is currently 9.99%.

About AerCap

AerCap Holdings N.V. engages in the lease, financing, sale, and management of commercial flight equipment in China, Hong Kong, Macau, the United States, Ireland, and internationally. The company offers aircraft asset management services, such as remarketing aircraft and engines; collecting rental and maintenance rent payments, monitoring aircraft maintenance, monitoring and enforcing contract compliance, and accepting delivery and redelivery of aircraft and engines; and conducting ongoing lessee financial performance reviews.