American Airlines Group (NASDAQ:AAL) Raised to “Strong-Buy” at Melius Research

American Airlines Group (NASDAQ:AAL) was upgraded by stock analysts at Melius Research from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report issued on Monday,Zacks.com reports.

Several other analysts have also recently weighed in on AAL. Bank of America increased 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 note on Friday, October 25th. Citigroup raised their price objective on American Airlines Group from $19.00 to $23.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. Susquehanna increased their target price on American Airlines Group from $11.00 to $12.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 9th. Sanford C. Bernstein upgraded American Airlines Group from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and lifted their target price for the company from $14.00 to $24.00 in a report on Tuesday, December 10th. Finally, UBS Group upgraded American Airlines Group from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 10th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating, eleven have given a buy rating and three have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, American Airlines Group currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $18.10.

American Airlines Group Stock Up 1.0 %

Shares of AAL opened at $17.69 on Monday. American Airlines Group has a 52-week low of $9.07 and a 52-week high of $18.20. The stock has a market cap of $11.62 billion, a PE ratio of 53.61, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.29 and a beta of 1.35. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $15.54 and its two-hundred day moving average is $12.58.

American Airlines Group (NASDAQ:AAL) last issued its 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. American Airlines Group had a negative return on equity of 18.62% and a net margin of 0.51%. The company had revenue of $13.65 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $13.50 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $0.38 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 1.2% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts anticipate that American Airlines Group will post 1.62 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CEO Robert D. Isom, Jr. sold 102,441 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated 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 completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 2,967,984 shares in the company, valued at approximately $51,079,004.64. This trade represents a 3.34 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. 0.49% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of American Airlines Group

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in AAL. Primecap Management Co. CA increased its position in shares of 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 worth $644,466,000 after acquiring an additional 14,549,310 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its stake in American Airlines Group by 75.5% in the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 4,240,659 shares of the airline’s stock worth $48,047,000 after purchasing an additional 1,823,928 shares during the period. Point72 DIFC Ltd purchased a new position in American Airlines Group during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $16,490,000. Toronto Dominion Bank raised its stake in American Airlines Group by 379.6% during the 3rd quarter. Toronto Dominion Bank now owns 1,667,539 shares of the airline’s stock valued at $18,743,000 after purchasing an additional 1,319,859 shares during the period. Finally, Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. lifted its holdings in shares of American Airlines Group by 10,997.9% in the third quarter. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. now owns 1,167,056 shares of the airline’s stock valued at $13,118,000 after purchasing an additional 1,156,540 shares in the last quarter. 52.44% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.