American Airlines Group (NASDAQ:AAL) Sets New 52-Week High on Analyst Upgrade

American Airlines Group Inc. (NASDAQ:AAL)’s stock price hit a new 52-week high during mid-day trading on Friday after Evercore ISI raised their price target on the stock to $18.00. Evercore ISI currently has a hold rating on the stock. American Airlines Group traded as high as $18.36 and last traded at $18.36, with a volume of 3156003 shares traded. The stock had previously closed at $17.60.

Several other research firms also recently weighed in on AAL. Barclays boosted their price target on shares of American Airlines Group from $16.00 to $18.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, December 6th. 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. Bank of America increased their price objective on American Airlines Group from $9.00 to $10.00 and gave the stock an “underperform” rating in a report on Friday, October 25th. Raymond James upgraded American Airlines Group from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $24.00 target price for the company in a report on Monday, December 30th. Finally, TD Cowen upgraded shares of American Airlines Group from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their price objective for the stock from $17.00 to $25.00 in a report on Monday, January 6th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating, eleven have assigned a buy rating and three have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $18.42.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other 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 of the company’s stock, valued at $51,079,004.64. This represents a 3.34 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 0.49% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of American Airlines Group

A number of institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in AAL. Primecap Management Co. CA lifted its holdings in shares of American Airlines Group by 34.4% during the 2nd quarter. Primecap Management Co. CA now owns 56,881,356 shares of the airline’s stock valued at $644,466,000 after buying an additional 14,549,310 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its position in shares of American Airlines Group by 75.5% during the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 4,240,659 shares of the airline’s stock valued at $48,047,000 after buying an additional 1,823,928 shares in the last quarter. Point72 DIFC Ltd bought a new position in shares of American Airlines Group during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $16,490,000. Toronto Dominion Bank increased its stake in shares of American Airlines Group by 379.6% in the third quarter. Toronto Dominion Bank now owns 1,667,539 shares of the airline’s stock worth $18,743,000 after purchasing an additional 1,319,859 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. increased its stake in American Airlines Group by 10,997.9% in the 3rd quarter. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. now owns 1,167,056 shares of the airline’s stock worth $13,118,000 after buying an additional 1,156,540 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 52.44% of the company’s stock.

American Airlines Group Trading Up 4.4 %

The firm has a 50 day moving average of $15.87 and a 200-day moving average of $12.76. The company has a market cap of $12.08 billion, a P/E ratio of 55.70, a P/E/G ratio of 0.29 and a beta of 1.35.

American Airlines Group (NASDAQ:AAL) last posted its 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. 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 for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $13.50 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.38 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 1.2% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts predict that American Airlines Group Inc. will post 1.62 EPS for the current fiscal year.

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.