Barclays Cuts American Airlines Group (NASDAQ:AAL) Price Target to $16.00

American Airlines Group (NASDAQ:AAL) had its target price lowered by investment analysts at Barclays from $18.00 to $16.00 in a research note issued on Wednesday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has an “equal weight” rating on the airline’s stock. Barclays‘s target price suggests a potential upside of 45.95% from the stock’s current price.

A number of other analysts have also recently commented on the company. The Goldman Sachs Group reiterated a “neutral” rating and set a $15.00 price objective on shares of American Airlines Group in a research report on Friday, November 15th. Morgan Stanley lifted their price target on shares of American Airlines Group from $18.00 to $22.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 11th. Bank of America cut their price objective on shares of American Airlines Group from $20.00 to $16.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday. Raymond James reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $23.00 target price (down from $24.00) on shares of American Airlines Group in a research note on Friday, January 24th. Finally, UBS Group upgraded American Airlines Group from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, December 10th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirteen have given a buy rating and three have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $19.32.

American Airlines Group Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ AAL traded down $0.50 on Wednesday, hitting $10.96. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 24,356,737 shares, compared to its average volume of 39,853,781. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $16.33 and a 200-day moving average of $14.44. American Airlines Group has a 12-month low of $9.07 and a 12-month high of $19.10. The company has a market capitalization of $7.21 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.59, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.21 and a beta of 1.27.

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

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, SVP Angela Owens sold 51,906 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, January 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $17.15, for a total transaction 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. This trade represents a 31.59 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CEO Robert D. Isom, Jr. sold 102,441 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 2,967,984 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $51,079,004.64. This represents a 3.34 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.49% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of American Airlines Group

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in AAL. Voloridge Investment Management LLC acquired a new stake in American Airlines Group during the 4th quarter valued at $60,190,000. Primecap Management Co. CA boosted its position in American Airlines Group by 5.0% in the 4th quarter. Primecap Management Co. CA now owns 60,225,707 shares of the airline’s stock valued at $1,049,734,000 after buying an additional 2,886,041 shares during the last quarter. Two Sigma Advisers LP acquired a new stake in shares of American Airlines Group during the fourth quarter valued at about $42,693,000. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership purchased a new stake in shares of American Airlines Group during the fourth quarter worth about $40,333,000. Finally, Alyeska Investment Group L.P. acquired a new position in shares of American Airlines Group in the fourth quarter worth about $35,141,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 52.44% of the company’s stock.

About American Airlines Group

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.