American Airlines Group Sees Unusually Large Options Volume (NASDAQ:AAL)

American Airlines Group Inc. (NASDAQ:AAL) saw some unusual options trading on Monday. Traders bought 145,792 put options on the company. This represents an increase of approximately 35% compared to the average volume of 108,179 put options.

Insider Buying and Selling at American Airlines Group

In other American Airlines Group news, CEO Robert D. Isom, Jr. sold 102,441 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, December 27th. The stock was 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 in the company, valued at $51,079,004.64. This represents a 3.34 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Company insiders own 0.49% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On American Airlines Group

Large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Friedenthal Financial boosted its position in American Airlines Group by 1,039.9% during the 4th quarter. Friedenthal Financial now owns 48,355 shares of the airline’s stock worth $843,000 after purchasing an additional 44,113 shares during the period. Cooper Financial Group acquired a new stake in shares of American Airlines Group in the fourth quarter valued at about $181,000. Strathmore Capital Advisors Inc. purchased a new position in American Airlines Group in the 4th quarter worth approximately $351,000. Everence Capital Management Inc. acquired a new stake in American Airlines Group in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $409,000. Finally, Principal Financial Group Inc. lifted its position 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 in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 52.44% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have commented on AAL. Raymond James raised shares of American Airlines Group from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $24.00 price target for the company in a research report on Monday, December 30th. Bank of America increased their target price on American Airlines Group from $9.00 to $10.00 and gave the company an “underperform” rating in a report on Friday, October 25th. Seaport Res Ptn raised American Airlines Group from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 5th. UBS Group raised shares of American Airlines Group from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 10th. Finally, BNP Paribas raised American Airlines Group to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, September 19th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating, eleven have given a buy rating and three have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, American Airlines Group has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $18.42.

American Airlines Group Trading Down 4.2 %

Shares of AAL traded down $0.78 during mid-day trading on Monday, reaching $17.60. The company had a trading volume of 28,351,443 shares, compared to its average volume of 27,927,291. The stock has a market cap of $11.57 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 53.33, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.29 and a beta of 1.35. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $15.87 and a 200-day simple moving average of $12.77. American Airlines Group has a fifty-two week low of $9.07 and a fifty-two week high of $18.45.

American Airlines Group (NASDAQ:AAL) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 24th. The airline reported $0.30 EPS for the quarter, topping 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 analyst estimates of $13.50 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.38 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 1.2% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts predict that American Airlines Group will post 1.62 EPS for the current fiscal year.

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.