American Airlines Group Inc. (NASDAQ:AAL) Given Consensus Recommendation of “Moderate Buy” by Brokerages

American Airlines Group Inc. (NASDAQ:AAL) has been assigned a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the twenty-one ratings firms that are currently covering the company, MarketBeat reports. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation, twelve have assigned a buy recommendation and three have issued a strong buy recommendation on the company. The average 1-year price target among brokerages that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $19.70.

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on AAL shares. Redburn Partners raised American Airlines Group from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $24.00 target price on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, February 26th. StockNews.com raised American Airlines Group from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 29th. UBS Group raised American Airlines Group from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 10th. The Goldman Sachs Group reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and issued a $15.00 price objective on shares of American Airlines Group in a research report on Friday, November 15th. Finally, Redburn Atlantic raised American Airlines Group from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their price target for the stock from $18.00 to $24.00 in a research report on Wednesday, February 26th.

American Airlines Group Price Performance

Shares of AAL opened at $13.35 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $8.78 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.71, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.21 and a beta of 1.35. American Airlines Group has a 1 year low of $9.07 and a 1 year high of $19.10. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $16.79 and its 200-day simple moving average is $14.35.

American Airlines Group (NASDAQ:AAL) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 23rd. The airline reported $0.86 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping 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, sell-side analysts expect that American Airlines Group will post 2.42 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling at American Airlines Group

In other news, SVP Angela Owens sold 51,906 shares of the 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 transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 112,412 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,927,865.80. This represents a 31.59 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CEO Robert D. Isom, Jr. sold 102,441 shares of the stock in a transaction dated 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 transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,967,984 shares in the company, valued at $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. 0.49% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of AAL. Bernard Wealth Management Corp. acquired a new stake in American Airlines Group during the fourth quarter worth about $42,000. Heck Capital Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in American Airlines Group during the fourth quarter worth about $98,000. Polar Asset Management Partners Inc. acquired a new stake in American Airlines Group during the fourth quarter worth about $8,009,000. Ameriflex Group Inc. acquired a new stake in American Airlines Group during the fourth quarter worth about $69,000. Finally, Mackenzie Financial Corp acquired a new stake in American Airlines Group during the fourth quarter worth about $1,797,000. 52.44% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.