American Airlines Group Inc. (NASDAQ:AAL) Shares Purchased by KBC Group NV

KBC Group NV raised its position in American Airlines Group Inc. (NASDAQ:AAL) by 46.0% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 8,982 shares of the airline’s stock after buying an additional 2,830 shares during the period. KBC Group NV’s holdings in American Airlines Group were worth $157,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors have also modified their holdings of AAL. Austin Private Wealth LLC acquired a new stake in shares of American Airlines Group in the third quarter worth approximately $723,000. U S Global Investors Inc. boosted its stake in American Airlines Group by 5.9% during the 3rd quarter. U S Global Investors Inc. now owns 9,088,188 shares of the airline’s stock worth $102,151,000 after purchasing an additional 508,119 shares during the last quarter. Centiva Capital LP grew its holdings in shares of American Airlines Group by 199.9% during the third quarter. Centiva Capital LP now owns 149,304 shares of the airline’s stock worth $1,678,000 after buying an additional 99,513 shares in the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. raised its position in shares of 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 buying an additional 787,671 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Primecap Management Co. CA lifted its stake in shares of American Airlines Group by 0.8% in the third quarter. Primecap Management Co. CA now owns 57,339,666 shares of the airline’s stock worth $644,498,000 after buying an additional 458,310 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 52.44% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

AAL has been the topic of several recent research reports. Citigroup boosted their target price on American Airlines Group from $19.00 to $23.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, December 12th. Melius Research raised American Airlines Group from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, January 6th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on American Airlines Group from $15.00 to $20.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, October 25th. The Goldman Sachs Group reissued a “neutral” rating and set a $15.00 price target on shares of American Airlines Group in a research report on Friday, November 15th. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein upgraded shares of American Airlines Group from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and raised their price objective for the stock from $14.00 to $24.00 in a research report on Tuesday, December 10th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eleven have issued a buy rating and three have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, American Airlines Group currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $18.88.

American Airlines Group Trading Up 0.6 %

Shares of American Airlines Group stock opened at $17.06 on Friday. The company has a 50-day moving average of $17.11 and a two-hundred day moving average of $13.59. The stock has a market cap of $11.21 billion, a PE ratio of 14.97, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.24 and a beta of 1.35. American Airlines Group Inc. has a 12-month low of $9.07 and a 12-month high of $19.10.

American Airlines Group (NASDAQ:AAL) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 23rd. The airline reported $0.86 earnings per share (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, sell-side analysts forecast that American Airlines Group Inc. will post 2.39 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

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

American Airlines Group 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.