Alaska Air Group Sees Unusually High Options Volume (NYSE:ALK)

Alaska Air Group, Inc. (NYSE:ALK) was the target of unusually large options trading on Thursday. Traders acquired 31,219 call options on the company. This is an increase of approximately 792% compared to the typical daily volume of 3,500 call options.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Capital Research Global Investors acquired a new stake in shares of Alaska Air Group in the first quarter valued at approximately $36,993,000. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. boosted its position in Alaska Air Group by 2,087.8% during the third quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 762,889 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $34,490,000 after acquiring an additional 728,019 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its position in Alaska Air Group by 5.8% during the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 6,504,583 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $262,789,000 after acquiring an additional 357,907 shares during the last quarter. Mesirow Institutional Investment Management Inc. acquired a new stake in Alaska Air Group during the second quarter worth approximately $11,475,000. Finally, Russell Investments Group Ltd. boosted its position in Alaska Air Group by 35.0% during the first quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. now owns 862,376 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $37,074,000 after acquiring an additional 223,725 shares during the last quarter. 81.90% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Bank of America upped their price objective on Alaska Air Group from $50.00 to $55.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, September 13th. Citigroup lowered their target price on shares of Alaska Air Group from $51.00 to $48.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, August 29th. Melius Research upgraded shares of Alaska Air Group from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $56.00 target price for the company in a research note on Monday, October 28th. Susquehanna boosted their target price on shares of Alaska Air Group from $40.00 to $45.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 9th. Finally, Barclays began coverage on shares of Alaska Air Group in a research note on Monday, October 21st. They set an “overweight” rating and a $55.00 target price for the company. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $54.17.

Alaska Air Group Price Performance

Shares of ALK opened at $49.25 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $6.21 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.63, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.73 and a beta of 1.60. Alaska Air Group has a fifty-two week low of $31.44 and a fifty-two week high of $50.16. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $42.20 and a 200-day simple moving average of $40.86. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.55, a quick ratio of 0.66 and a current ratio of 0.68.

Alaska Air Group (NYSE:ALK) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The transportation company reported $2.25 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.22 by $0.03. Alaska Air Group had a net margin of 2.14% and a return on equity of 11.85%. The firm had revenue of $3.07 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $1.83 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 8.2% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Alaska Air Group will post 4.24 earnings per share for the current year.

About Alaska Air Group

Alaska Air Group, Inc, through its subsidiaries, operates airlines. It operates through three segments: Mainline, Regional, and Horizon. The company offers scheduled air transportation services on Boeing jet aircraft for passengers and cargo in the United States, and in parts of Canada, Mexico, Costa Rica, Belize, Guatemala, and the Bahamas; and for passengers across a shorter distance network within the United States, Canada, and Mexico.