American Airlines Group (NASDAQ:AAL) Stock Rating Upgraded by Melius Research

American Airlines Group (NASDAQ:AAL) was upgraded by equities research analysts at Melius Research from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report released on Monday,Zacks.com reports.

AAL has been the topic of a number of other reports. Scotiabank upgraded shares of American Airlines Group from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $20.00 price target on the stock in a report on Thursday, December 5th. The Goldman Sachs Group restated a “neutral” rating and issued a $15.00 target price on shares of American Airlines Group in a research note on Friday, November 15th. Sanford C. Bernstein raised American Airlines Group from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and upped their price target for the stock from $14.00 to $24.00 in a research report on Tuesday, December 10th. Melius raised American Airlines Group from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $23.00 price objective for the company in a research report on Monday. Finally, Bank of America upped their target price on American Airlines Group from $9.00 to $10.00 and gave the company an “underperform” rating in a research report on Friday, October 25th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating, eleven have assigned a buy rating and three have given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, American Airlines Group has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $18.10.

American Airlines Group Stock Up 1.0 %

Shares of AAL stock opened at $17.69 on Monday. The firm has a market cap of $11.62 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 53.61, a PEG ratio of 0.29 and a beta of 1.35. American Airlines Group has a 52-week low of $9.07 and a 52-week high of $18.20. The company’s 50 day moving average is $15.54 and its 200 day moving average is $12.58.

American Airlines Group (NASDAQ:AAL) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 24th. The airline reported $0.30 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.16 by $0.14. The business had revenue of $13.65 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $13.50 billion. American Airlines Group had a negative return on equity of 18.62% and a net margin of 0.51%. The business’s revenue was up 1.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business posted $0.38 EPS. Analysts anticipate that American Airlines Group will post 1.62 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO Robert D. Isom, Jr. sold 102,441 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated 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 sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,967,984 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $51,079,004.64. This trade represents a 3.34 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. 0.49% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On American Airlines Group

Several hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of AAL. Strathmore Capital Advisors Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of American Airlines Group during the 4th quarter worth about $351,000. Everence Capital Management Inc. purchased a new position in American Airlines Group during the fourth quarter worth approximately $409,000. Principal Financial Group Inc. grew its holdings in American Airlines Group by 107.6% in the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 1,519,904 shares of the airline’s stock valued at $17,084,000 after purchasing an additional 787,671 shares during the period. Retirement Systems of Alabama increased its position in shares of American Airlines Group by 451.2% in the third quarter. Retirement Systems of Alabama now owns 797,738 shares of the airline’s stock valued at $8,967,000 after buying an additional 653,012 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Tidal Investments LLC raised its stake in shares of American Airlines Group by 63.1% during the 3rd quarter. Tidal Investments LLC now owns 66,249 shares of the airline’s stock worth $745,000 after buying an additional 25,637 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 52.44% of the company’s stock.

About American Airlines Group

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.