Short Interest in Allegiant Travel (NASDAQ:ALGT) Expands By 29.8%

Allegiant Travel (NASDAQ:ALGT) saw a significant growth in short interest in February. As of February 28th, there was short interest totalling 1,350,000 shares, a growth of 29.8% from the February 13th total of 1,040,000 shares. Currently, 9.6% of the shares of the stock are sold short. Based on an average daily volume of 371,500 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 3.6 days.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

ALGT has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on Allegiant Travel from $90.00 to $95.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, February 6th. Susquehanna upped their target price on Allegiant Travel from $60.00 to $105.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th. Raymond James upped their target price on Allegiant Travel from $75.00 to $110.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, December 30th. TD Cowen upped their target price on Allegiant Travel from $50.00 to $70.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 17th. Finally, UBS Group initiated coverage on Allegiant Travel in a research note on Tuesday, November 26th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $16.00 target price for the company. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have assigned a hold rating and one has given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $80.10.

Allegiant Travel Stock Performance

NASDAQ:ALGT opened at $54.21 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.36, a quick ratio of 0.72 and a current ratio of 0.75. The firm has a market cap of $994.10 million, a PE ratio of -4.05 and a beta of 1.64. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $85.58 and a 200-day moving average price of $73.68. Allegiant Travel has a fifty-two week low of $36.09 and a fifty-two week high of $107.57.

Allegiant Travel (NASDAQ:ALGT) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The transportation company reported $2.10 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.48 by $1.62. Allegiant Travel had a negative net margin of 9.56% and a positive return on equity of 3.33%. Equities research analysts predict that Allegiant Travel will post 7.7 earnings per share for the current year.

Institutional Trading of Allegiant Travel

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in ALGT. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. bought a new position in Allegiant Travel during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $26,067,000. Emerald Advisers LLC bought a new position in Allegiant Travel during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $22,256,000. Voloridge Investment Management LLC bought a new position in Allegiant Travel during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $16,713,000. Mesirow Institutional Investment Management Inc. bought a new position in Allegiant Travel during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $13,830,000. Finally, T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. increased its position in Allegiant Travel by 16.5% during the 4th quarter. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. now owns 928,641 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $87,404,000 after buying an additional 131,561 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 85.81% of the company’s stock.

About Allegiant Travel

Allegiant Travel Company, a leisure travel company, provides travel services and products to residents of under-served cities in the United States. The company offers scheduled air transportation on limited-frequency, nonstop flights between under-served cities and leisure destinations. As of February 1, 2024, it operated a fleet of 126 Airbus A320 series aircraft.