AerCap Holdings (NYSE:AER) Shares Sold by Prudential Financial Inc.

Prudential Financial Inc. lowered its position in AerCap Holdings (NYSE:AER) by 16.3% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 45,819 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 8,918 shares during the quarter. Prudential Financial Inc.’s holdings in AerCap were worth $4,385,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Franklin Resources Inc. increased its position in AerCap by 5.3% in the 3rd quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 5,601,208 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $545,726,000 after acquiring an additional 282,980 shares during the period. State Street Corp raised its stake in shares of AerCap by 8.3% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 4,862,517 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $460,579,000 after purchasing an additional 370,906 shares in the last quarter. Cooke & Bieler LP lifted its holdings in AerCap by 3.0% in the fourth quarter. Cooke & Bieler LP now owns 2,934,185 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $280,802,000 after purchasing an additional 86,548 shares during the period. Ninety One UK Ltd grew its position in AerCap by 7.0% in the 4th quarter. Ninety One UK Ltd now owns 2,550,350 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $244,068,000 after buying an additional 167,830 shares in the last quarter. Finally, FMR LLC increased its stake in AerCap by 1.3% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 1,737,476 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $164,574,000 after buying an additional 22,346 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 96.42% of the company’s stock.

AerCap Stock Performance

AER opened at $102.14 on Tuesday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.67, a current ratio of 0.67 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.89. The firm has a market cap of $19.08 billion, a PE ratio of 8.09, a P/E/G ratio of 2.22 and a beta of 1.83. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $99.73 and a 200-day simple moving average of $97.21. AerCap Holdings has a fifty-two week low of $81.93 and a fifty-two week high of $107.36.

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

AerCap declared that its board has approved a share repurchase program on Wednesday, February 26th that permits the company to repurchase $1.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization permits the financial services provider to reacquire up to 4.9% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are generally a sign that the company’s board believes its stock is undervalued.

AerCap Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, April 3rd. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, March 12th will be given a $0.27 dividend. This is an increase from AerCap’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.25. This represents a $1.08 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.06%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, March 12th. AerCap’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 9.99%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

AER has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Susquehanna increased their price objective on shares of AerCap from $108.00 to $120.00 and gave the company a “positive” rating in a report on Thursday, February 27th. UBS Group lowered AerCap to an “underperform” rating in a research note on Friday, March 7th. Barclays reissued an “overweight” rating and issued a $115.00 price objective (up previously from $113.00) on shares of AerCap in a research note on Thursday, February 27th. Finally, Bank of America raised 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. One equities 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 stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $117.43.

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.