Proficio Capital Partners LLC Takes Position in American Airlines Group Inc. (NASDAQ:AAL)

Proficio Capital Partners LLC bought a new position in shares of American Airlines Group Inc. (NASDAQ:AAL) during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund bought 13,229 shares of the airline’s stock, valued at approximately $231,000.

Other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Centiva Capital LP increased its holdings in shares of American Airlines Group by 199.9% during the 3rd quarter. Centiva Capital LP now owns 149,304 shares of the airline’s stock worth $1,678,000 after purchasing an additional 99,513 shares during the period. Decker Retirement Planning Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of American Airlines Group during the 4th quarter worth approximately $9,482,000. MetLife Investment Management LLC increased its position in shares of American Airlines Group by 92.8% during the third quarter. MetLife Investment Management LLC now owns 341,525 shares of the airline’s stock valued at $3,839,000 after purchasing an additional 164,376 shares during the period. Contravisory Investment Management Inc. acquired a new position in shares of American Airlines Group in the fourth quarter valued at $689,000. Finally, KBC Group NV lifted its position in American Airlines Group by 46.0% in the fourth quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 8,982 shares of the airline’s stock worth $157,000 after purchasing an additional 2,830 shares during the period. 52.44% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity

In other news, SVP Angela Owens sold 51,906 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, January 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $17.15, for a total value of $890,187.90. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 112,412 shares in the company, valued at $1,927,865.80. This trade represents a 31.59 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, CEO Robert D. Isom, Jr. sold 102,441 shares of American Airlines Group stock in a transaction on Friday, December 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $17.21, for a total value 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 approximately $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. Insiders own 0.49% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on AAL. StockNews.com cut shares of American Airlines Group from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 13th. Morgan Stanley raised their price target on shares of American Airlines Group from $18.00 to $22.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 11th. Redburn Partners upgraded American Airlines Group from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $24.00 price objective on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, February 26th. Jefferies Financial Group upgraded American Airlines Group from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their target price for the stock from $12.00 to $20.00 in a research report on Monday, January 6th. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein upgraded American Airlines Group from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and increased their price objective for the stock from $14.00 to $24.00 in a research note on Tuesday, December 10th. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twelve have assigned a buy rating and three have given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $19.30.

American Airlines Group Stock Performance

NASDAQ:AAL opened at $11.44 on Thursday. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $14.93 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $14.47. The company has a market cap of $7.52 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.04, a P/E/G ratio of 0.21 and a beta of 1.27. American Airlines Group Inc. has a 52-week low of $9.07 and a 52-week high of $19.10.

American Airlines Group (NASDAQ:AAL) last posted 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 negative return on equity of 28.56% and a net margin of 1.56%. On average, equities analysts predict that American Airlines Group Inc. will post 2.42 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.