Alaska Air Group, Inc. (NYSE:ALK) Shares Sold by Maryland State Retirement & Pension System

Maryland State Retirement & Pension System decreased its position in Alaska Air Group, Inc. (NYSE:ALK) by 2.0% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 55,329 shares of the transportation company’s stock after selling 1,105 shares during the quarter. Maryland State Retirement & Pension System’s holdings in Alaska Air Group were worth $2,316,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in ALK. Massmutual Trust Co. FSB ADV grew its holdings in Alaska Air Group by 215.8% during the 4th quarter. Massmutual Trust Co. FSB ADV now owns 761 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $30,000 after purchasing an additional 520 shares in the last quarter. Creative Financial Designs Inc. ADV boosted its holdings in shares of Alaska Air Group by 255.5% in the 4th quarter. Creative Financial Designs Inc. ADV now owns 775 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $30,000 after buying an additional 557 shares during the period. Principal Securities Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Alaska Air Group during the 4th quarter valued at about $39,000. Parallel Advisors LLC grew its stake in Alaska Air Group by 28.4% during the 4th quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC now owns 1,688 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $66,000 after buying an additional 373 shares during the last quarter. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC bought a new position in Alaska Air Group in the 4th quarter worth about $67,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 81.90% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

ALK has been the subject of several analyst reports. TD Cowen boosted their price objective on Alaska Air Group from $49.00 to $58.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, April 19th. UBS Group initiated coverage on Alaska Air Group in a research note on Wednesday, March 20th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $54.00 price target for the company. Wolfe Research upgraded shares of Alaska Air Group from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $55.00 price objective on the stock in a research note on Friday, May 17th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Alaska Air Group from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, April 19th. Finally, Evercore ISI boosted their price target on shares of Alaska Air Group from $55.00 to $65.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 4th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $56.60.

Alaska Air Group Stock Down 4.9 %

Shares of NYSE:ALK opened at $38.33 on Friday. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $41.92 and a 200 day simple moving average of $39.96. Alaska Air Group, Inc. has a 52 week low of $30.75 and a 52 week high of $57.18. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.57, a quick ratio of 0.63 and a current ratio of 0.65. The company has a market cap of $4.86 billion, a PE ratio of 20.50, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.54 and a beta of 1.60.

Alaska Air Group (NYSE:ALK) last released its earnings results on Thursday, April 18th. The transportation company reported ($0.92) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of ($1.09) by $0.17. Alaska Air Group had a return on equity of 13.54% and a net margin of 2.34%. The company had revenue of $2.23 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.18 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned ($0.62) earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 1.6% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts expect that Alaska Air Group, Inc. will post 4.71 earnings per share for the current year.

Alaska Air Group Company Profile

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.