Principal Securities Inc. Acquires 1,900 Shares of American Airlines Group Inc. (NASDAQ:AAL)

Principal Securities Inc. lifted its stake in American Airlines Group Inc. (NASDAQ:AAL) by 139.6% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 3,261 shares of the airline’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,900 shares during the quarter. Principal Securities Inc.’s holdings in American Airlines Group were worth $57,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Valeo Financial Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of American Airlines Group during the 4th quarter worth about $199,000. Quent Capital LLC grew its holdings in American Airlines Group by 70.2% during the fourth quarter. Quent Capital LLC now owns 3,064 shares of the airline’s stock worth $53,000 after purchasing an additional 1,264 shares during the period. Entropy Technologies LP acquired a new position in American Airlines Group during the fourth quarter worth approximately $407,000. Golden State Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in American Airlines Group in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Finally, Heck Capital Advisors LLC bought a new stake in American Airlines Group in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $98,000. Institutional investors own 52.44% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms recently weighed in on AAL. Redburn Atlantic raised American Airlines Group from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their target price for the stock from $18.00 to $24.00 in a report on Wednesday. Melius upgraded shares of American Airlines Group from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $23.00 price objective on the stock in a report on Monday, January 6th. TD Cowen upgraded shares of American Airlines Group from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their target price for the stock from $17.00 to $25.00 in a research note on Monday, January 6th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of American Airlines Group from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 29th. Finally, Scotiabank upgraded shares of American Airlines Group from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $20.00 price objective for the company in a research report on Thursday, December 5th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirteen have given a buy rating and three have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $19.40.

American Airlines Group Stock Down 4.3 %

AAL stock opened at $14.53 on Friday. American Airlines Group Inc. has a 52 week low of $9.07 and a 52 week high of $19.10. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $17.03 and a 200 day simple moving average of $14.20. The company has a market cap of $9.55 billion, a PE ratio of 12.75, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.21 and a beta of 1.35.

American Airlines Group (NASDAQ:AAL) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, January 23rd. The airline reported $0.86 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.39 by $0.47. American Airlines Group had a net margin of 1.56% and a negative return on equity of 28.56%. On average, analysts anticipate that American Airlines Group Inc. will post 2.42 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, SVP Angela Owens sold 51,906 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, January 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $17.15, for a total transaction of $890,187.90. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 112,412 shares in the company, valued at $1,927,865.80. This represents a 31.59 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, CEO Robert D. Isom, Jr. sold 102,441 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, December 27th. The shares were 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 disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 0.49% 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.