American Airlines Group (NASDAQ:AAL) Raised to Buy at Jefferies Financial Group

American Airlines Group (NASDAQ:AAL) was upgraded by analysts at Jefferies Financial Group from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report released on Monday,Briefing.com Automated Import reports. The firm presently has a $20.00 target price on the airline’s stock, up from their previous target price of $12.00. Jefferies Financial Group’s price objective would suggest a potential upside of 17.86% from the company’s current price.

A number of other research analysts have also recently issued reports on the stock. Citigroup lifted their price objective on shares of American Airlines Group from $19.00 to $23.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. TD Cowen lifted their target price on shares of American Airlines Group from $10.00 to $17.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, December 6th. Morgan Stanley increased their price objective on American Airlines Group from $18.00 to $22.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 11th. Sanford C. Bernstein upgraded American Airlines Group from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and upped their price target for the company from $14.00 to $24.00 in a research report on Tuesday, December 10th. Finally, Bank of America raised their price objective on American Airlines Group from $9.00 to $10.00 and gave the stock an “underperform” rating in a research report on Friday, October 25th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating, ten have assigned a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $17.26.

American Airlines Group Stock Performance

Shares of AAL opened at $16.97 on Monday. The firm has a market cap of $11.15 billion, a P/E ratio of 51.43, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.29 and a beta of 1.41. American Airlines Group has a 52 week low of $9.07 and a 52 week high of $18.20. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $15.46 and its 200 day simple moving average is $12.53.

American Airlines Group (NASDAQ:AAL) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, October 24th. The airline reported $0.30 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.16 by $0.14. The company had revenue of $13.65 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $13.50 billion. American Airlines Group had a negative return on equity of 18.62% and a net margin of 0.51%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 1.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $0.38 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts forecast that American Airlines Group will post 1.62 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Transactions at American Airlines Group

In other American Airlines Group news, CEO Robert D. Isom, Jr. sold 102,441 shares of American Airlines Group stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, December 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $17.21, for a total transaction of $1,763,009.61. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,967,984 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $51,079,004.64. This trade represents a 3.34 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. 0.49% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On American Airlines Group

Large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Primecap Management Co. CA lifted its position in American Airlines Group by 34.4% in the second quarter. Primecap Management Co. CA now owns 56,881,356 shares of the airline’s stock valued at $644,466,000 after purchasing an additional 14,549,310 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its position in American Airlines Group by 75.5% during the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 4,240,659 shares of the airline’s stock valued at $48,047,000 after purchasing an additional 1,823,928 shares during the period. Point72 DIFC Ltd purchased a new position in shares of American Airlines Group in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $16,490,000. Toronto Dominion Bank raised its holdings in American Airlines Group by 379.6% in the third quarter. Toronto Dominion Bank now owns 1,667,539 shares of the airline’s stock worth $18,743,000 after purchasing an additional 1,319,859 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. grew its position in shares of American Airlines Group by 10,997.9% in the 3rd quarter. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. now owns 1,167,056 shares of the airline’s stock worth $13,118,000 after buying an additional 1,156,540 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 52.44% of the company’s stock.

About American Airlines Group

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.