Bank of America Upgrades American Airlines Group (NASDAQ:AAL) to Neutral

American Airlines Group (NASDAQ:AAL) was upgraded by stock analysts at Bank of America from an “underperform” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research report issued to clients and investors on Friday, Marketbeat.com reports. The firm currently has a $20.00 price target on the airline’s stock, up from their prior price target of $12.00. Bank of America‘s price objective would indicate a potential upside of 9.47% from the company’s current price.

Several other analysts have also commented on AAL. Scotiabank raised American Airlines Group from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $20.00 target price on the stock in a report on Thursday, December 5th. Morgan Stanley lifted their price objective on American Airlines Group from $18.00 to $22.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 11th. Sanford C. Bernstein raised shares of American Airlines Group from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and lifted their target price for the stock from $14.00 to $24.00 in a research note on Tuesday, December 10th. TD Cowen upgraded American Airlines Group from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their price objective for the stock from $17.00 to $25.00 in a research report on Monday, January 6th. Finally, Barclays raised their price objective on shares of American Airlines Group from $16.00 to $18.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, December 6th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twelve have issued a buy rating and three have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, American Airlines Group presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $18.94.

American Airlines Group Stock Down 0.1 %

Shares of American Airlines Group stock opened at $18.27 on Friday. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $16.33 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $13.00. American Airlines Group has a 12-month low of $9.07 and a 12-month high of $18.57. The firm has a market cap of $12.01 billion, a PE ratio of 55.37, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.21 and a beta of 1.35.

American Airlines Group (NASDAQ:AAL) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 24th. The airline reported $0.30 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.16 by $0.14. The company had revenue of $13.65 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $13.50 billion. American Airlines Group had a negative return on equity of 18.62% and a net margin of 0.51%. American Airlines Group’s revenue for the quarter was up 1.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $0.38 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that American Airlines Group will post 1.7 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Robert D. Isom, Jr. sold 102,441 shares of the business’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 sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,967,984 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $51,079,004.64. The trade was a 3.34 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Insiders own 0.49% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On American Airlines Group

Institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Brooklyn Investment Group grew its holdings in American Airlines Group by 133.1% during the 4th quarter. Brooklyn Investment Group now owns 1,592 shares of the airline’s stock valued at $28,000 after buying an additional 909 shares in the last quarter. Blue Trust Inc. grew its position in 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 acquiring an additional 911 shares in the last quarter. Point72 Hong Kong Ltd purchased a new stake in American Airlines Group during the third quarter valued at about $55,000. KBC Group NV lifted its stake in American Airlines Group by 55.8% during the third quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 6,152 shares of the airline’s stock worth $69,000 after purchasing an additional 2,204 shares during the last quarter. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its holdings in shares of American Airlines Group by 44.3% in the 3rd quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 9,932 shares of the airline’s stock worth $112,000 after purchasing an additional 3,047 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other 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.