Investors Buy Large Volume of Put Options on American Airlines Group (NASDAQ:AAL)

American Airlines Group Inc. (NASDAQ:AAL) was the target of some unusual options trading on Thursday. Stock traders purchased 307,825 put options on the company. This represents an increase of 152% compared to the average daily volume of 122,007 put options.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

AAL has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Bank of America cut their price target on American Airlines Group from $12.00 to $11.00 and set an “underperform” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, May 29th. Jefferies Financial Group downgraded American Airlines Group from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and cut their price target for the company from $17.00 to $12.00 in a research note on Wednesday, May 29th. Barclays cut their price target on American Airlines Group from $14.00 to $10.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, July 10th. Morgan Stanley cut their price target on American Airlines Group from $20.00 to $18.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, June 3rd. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price target on American Airlines Group from $24.00 to $21.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, May 30th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have issued a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $15.03.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On American Airlines Group

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. U S Global Investors Inc. increased its stake in American Airlines Group by 18.7% during the 4th quarter. U S Global Investors Inc. now owns 12,675,358 shares of the airline’s stock worth $174,159,000 after buying an additional 2,001,247 shares in the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. boosted its holdings in American Airlines Group by 7,871.8% in the 4th quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 1,762,081 shares of the airline’s stock valued at $24,211,000 after purchasing an additional 1,739,977 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of American Airlines Group in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $22,819,000. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of American Airlines Group by 1.1% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 76,177,845 shares of the airline’s stock worth $1,169,330,000 after buying an additional 806,770 shares during the last quarter. Finally, SG Americas Securities LLC raised its position in shares of American Airlines Group by 132.8% during the 2nd quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 147,877 shares of the airline’s stock valued at $1,675,000 after buying an additional 598,941 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 52.44% of the company’s stock.

American Airlines Group Trading Up 4.2 %

Shares of NASDAQ AAL traded up $0.43 during trading on Thursday, reaching $10.60. 96,219,992 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 34,578,020. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $11.68 and its 200 day simple moving average is $13.45. The stock has a market cap of $6.95 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.03, a PEG ratio of 0.22 and a beta of 1.44. American Airlines Group has a 12-month low of $9.76 and a 12-month high of $16.90.

American Airlines Group (NASDAQ:AAL) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 25th. The airline reported ($0.34) earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.28) by ($0.06). American Airlines Group had a net margin of 0.94% and a negative return on equity of 31.65%. The company had revenue of $12.57 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $12.60 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $0.05 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 3.1% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts expect that American Airlines Group will post 1.78 EPS for the current year.

American Airlines Group Company Profile

American Airlines Group Inc, through its subsidiaries, operates as a network air carrier. The company provides scheduled air transportation services for passengers and cargo through its hubs in Charlotte, Chicago, Dallas/Fort Worth, Los Angeles, Miami, New York, Philadelphia, Phoenix, and Washington, DC, as well as through partner gateways in London, Doha, Madrid, Seattle/Tacoma, Sydney, and Tokyo.