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

American Airlines Group (NASDAQ:AAL) was upgraded by Melius from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note issued on Monday, MarketBeat reports. The brokerage presently has a $23.00 target price on the airline’s stock. Melius’ price target suggests a potential upside of 30.02% from the company’s previous close.

AAL has been the topic of several other reports. Raymond James raised American Airlines Group from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $24.00 target price on the stock in a research report on Monday, December 30th. Seaport Res Ptn raised American Airlines Group from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 5th. Citigroup increased their target price on shares of American Airlines Group from $19.00 to $23.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, December 12th. BNP Paribas raised shares of American Airlines Group to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, September 19th. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein raised shares of American Airlines Group from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and increased their price objective for the stock from $14.00 to $24.00 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 issued a buy rating and three have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, American Airlines Group has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $18.10.

American Airlines Group Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:AAL opened at $17.69 on Monday. American Airlines Group has a 1 year low of $9.07 and a 1 year high of $18.20. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $15.54 and its 200-day moving average price is $12.58. The company has a market cap of $11.62 billion, a P/E ratio of 53.61, a PEG ratio of 0.29 and a beta of 1.35.

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 analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.16 by $0.14. The firm had revenue of $13.65 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $13.50 billion. American Airlines Group had a net margin of 0.51% and a negative return on equity of 18.62%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 1.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $0.38 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that American Airlines Group will post 1.62 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Transactions at American Airlines Group

In related news, CEO Robert D. Isom, Jr. sold 102,441 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, December 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $17.21, for a total value of $1,763,009.61. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,967,984 shares in the company, valued at $51,079,004.64. This trade represents a 3.34 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Insiders own 0.49% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On American Airlines Group

Institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Blue Trust Inc. grew its holdings in shares of American Airlines Group by 56.2% in the third quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 2,533 shares of the airline’s stock worth $29,000 after purchasing an additional 911 shares during the last quarter. Sentry Investment Management LLC bought a new position in American Airlines Group in the second quarter worth approximately $36,000. Point72 Hong Kong Ltd purchased a new position in American Airlines Group during the 3rd quarter worth $55,000. KBC Group NV raised its position in American Airlines Group by 55.8% during the 3rd quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 6,152 shares of the airline’s stock valued at $69,000 after purchasing an additional 2,204 shares in the last quarter. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC grew its position in shares of American Airlines Group by 44.3% during the 3rd quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 9,932 shares of the airline’s stock worth $112,000 after buying an additional 3,047 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 52.44% of the company’s stock.

American Airlines Group Company Profile

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.