American Airlines Group (NASDAQ:AAL) Upgraded at Melius

Melius upgraded shares of American Airlines Group (NASDAQ:AAL) from a hold rating to a buy rating in a report released on Monday, MarketBeat.com reports. Melius currently has $23.00 price objective on the airline’s stock.

A number of other equities analysts also recently weighed in on AAL. Jefferies Financial Group lifted their target price on shares of American Airlines Group from $10.00 to $11.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 2nd. Bank of America lifted their price target on shares of American Airlines Group from $9.00 to $10.00 and gave the company an “underperform” rating in a research report on Friday, October 25th. The Goldman Sachs Group reiterated a “neutral” rating and set a $15.00 price target on shares of American Airlines Group in a research note on Friday, November 15th. UBS Group upgraded shares of American Airlines Group from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, December 10th. Finally, Barclays upped their price objective on American Airlines Group from $16.00 to $18.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, December 6th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating, eleven have assigned a buy rating and three have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $18.10.

American Airlines Group Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:AAL opened at $17.60 on Monday. The company has a market capitalization of $11.57 billion, a PE ratio of 53.33, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.29 and a beta of 1.35. American Airlines Group has a 52-week low of $9.07 and a 52-week high of $18.20. The company has a fifty day moving average of $15.62 and a 200-day moving average of $12.63.

American Airlines Group (NASDAQ:AAL) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 24th. The airline reported $0.30 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.16 by $0.14. The firm had revenue of $13.65 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $13.50 billion. American Airlines Group had a net margin of 0.51% and a negative return on equity of 18.62%. The company’s revenue was up 1.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.38 EPS. On average, equities analysts forecast that American Airlines Group will post 1.62 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In related news, CEO Robert D. Isom, Jr. sold 102,441 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, December 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $17.21, for a total value of $1,763,009.61. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,967,984 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $51,079,004.64. This trade represents a 3.34 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. 0.49% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of American Airlines Group

Hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Strathmore Capital Advisors Inc. purchased a new position in shares of American Airlines Group during the 4th quarter valued at about $351,000. Everence Capital Management Inc. bought a new stake in American Airlines Group during the 4th quarter valued at $409,000. Principal Financial Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of American Airlines Group by 107.6% during the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 1,519,904 shares of the airline’s stock worth $17,084,000 after purchasing an additional 787,671 shares during the period. Retirement Systems of Alabama lifted its holdings in American Airlines Group by 451.2% in the 3rd quarter. Retirement Systems of Alabama now owns 797,738 shares of the airline’s stock worth $8,967,000 after buying an additional 653,012 shares during the period. Finally, Tidal Investments LLC boosted its holdings in American Airlines Group by 63.1% in the third quarter. Tidal Investments LLC now owns 66,249 shares of the airline’s stock valued at $745,000 after acquiring an additional 25,637 shares in the last quarter. 52.44% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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.