StockNews.com Downgrades American Airlines Group (NASDAQ:AAL) to Hold

American Airlines Group (NASDAQ:AAL) was downgraded by stock analysts at StockNews.com from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report issued on Thursday.

Several other equities research analysts have also recently issued reports on AAL. Citigroup restated a “buy” rating on shares of American Airlines Group in a report on Wednesday. Jefferies Financial Group upgraded shares of 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 report on Monday, January 6th. Bank of America dropped their target price on shares of American Airlines Group from $20.00 to $16.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock 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 target price on the stock in a report on Monday, January 6th. Finally, Raymond James restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $23.00 target price (down previously from $24.00) on shares of American Airlines Group in a report on Friday, January 24th. 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 stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $19.37.

American Airlines Group Stock Up 1.9 %

NASDAQ:AAL opened at $10.87 on Thursday. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $15.95 and its 200-day moving average price is $14.40. American Airlines Group has a 52 week low of $9.07 and a 52 week high of $19.10. The stock has a market cap of $7.15 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.54, a PEG ratio of 0.21 and a beta of 1.27.

American Airlines Group (NASDAQ:AAL) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 23rd. The airline reported $0.86 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates 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%. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that American Airlines Group will post 2.42 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity

In other American Airlines Group news, SVP Angela Owens sold 51,906 shares of American Airlines Group stock in a transaction on Monday, January 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $17.15, for a total value of $890,187.90. Following the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 112,412 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,927,865.80. The trade was a 31.59 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through 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 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 owns 2,967,984 shares in the company, valued at approximately $51,079,004.64. This 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.

Institutional Trading of American Airlines Group

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Principal Financial Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of American Airlines Group by 107.6% in the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 1,519,904 shares of the airline’s stock worth $17,084,000 after buying an additional 787,671 shares in the last quarter. State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D grew its stake in shares of American Airlines Group by 21.4% in the 3rd quarter. State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D now owns 194,278 shares of the airline’s stock worth $2,184,000 after buying an additional 34,222 shares in the last quarter. OVERSEA CHINESE BANKING Corp Ltd purchased a new position in shares of American Airlines Group in the 3rd quarter worth $137,000. Prime Capital Investment Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of American Airlines Group by 3.6% in the 3rd quarter. Prime Capital Investment Advisors LLC now owns 72,069 shares of the airline’s stock worth $810,000 after buying an additional 2,526 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Victory Capital Management Inc. grew its stake in shares of American Airlines Group by 7.3% in the 3rd quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 112,939 shares of the airline’s stock worth $1,269,000 after buying an additional 7,642 shares in the last quarter. 52.44% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.