Air Canada (TSE:AC) Stock Rating Upgraded by Stifel Nicolaus

Air Canada (TSE:AC) was upgraded by Stifel Nicolaus from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note issued on Monday, BayStreet.CA reports. The firm currently has a C$25.50 price target on the stock, up from their previous price target of C$20.00. Stifel Nicolaus’ price target indicates a potential upside of 14.97% from the company’s previous close.

Several other research analysts have also recently issued reports on AC. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price objective on Air Canada from C$41.00 to C$36.00 in a research note on Thursday, August 8th. TD Securities decreased their price objective on Air Canada from C$25.00 to C$19.00 in a report on Wednesday, July 24th. Jefferies Financial Group raised their target price on shares of Air Canada from C$16.00 to C$18.00 in a research report on Wednesday, October 2nd. Scotiabank increased their price objective on shares of Air Canada from C$22.00 to C$24.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 15th. Finally, Stifel Canada raised shares of Air Canada to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 15th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eleven have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of C$25.27.

Air Canada Stock Performance

AC opened at C$22.18 on Monday. The company has a fifty day moving average of C$16.97 and a 200 day moving average of C$17.42. Air Canada has a fifty-two week low of C$14.47 and a fifty-two week high of C$22.25. The stock has a market capitalization of C$7.95 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 4.95, a PEG ratio of 0.02 and a beta of 2.39. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1,070.99, a quick ratio of 1.06 and a current ratio of 0.85.

Air Canada (TSE:AC) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, August 7th. The company reported C$0.98 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of C$0.85 by C$0.13. The firm had revenue of C$5.52 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of C$5.55 billion. Air Canada had a return on equity of 603.77% and a net margin of 7.92%. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Air Canada will post 2.5789474 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Senior Officer Christophe Hennebelle acquired 1,900 shares of Air Canada stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 9th. The stock was purchased at an average cost of C$15.70 per share, for a total transaction of C$29,830.00. 0.14% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Air Canada Company Profile

Air Canada provides domestic, U.S. transborder, and international airline services. The company provides scheduled passenger services under the Air Canada Vacations and Air Canada Rouge brand names in the Canadian market, the Canada-U.S. transborder market, and in the international market to and from Canada, as well as through capacity purchase agreements on other regional carriers.