Alaska Air Group (NYSE:ALK) Rating Increased to Hold at StockNews.com

Alaska Air Group (NYSE:ALK) was upgraded by equities researchers at StockNews.com from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note issued to investors on Friday.

Other equities research analysts have also issued research reports about the company. UBS Group assumed coverage on Alaska Air Group in a report on Wednesday, March 20th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $54.00 price objective on the stock. TD Cowen boosted their price target on Alaska Air Group from $49.00 to $58.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised Alaska Air Group from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price target for the stock from $44.00 to $51.00 in a research note on Tuesday, February 20th. Melius lowered Alaska Air Group from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, January 8th. Finally, Susquehanna boosted their price target on Alaska Air Group from $40.00 to $42.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Alaska Air Group has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $57.85.

Alaska Air Group Stock Performance

ALK traded up $0.58 during trading on Friday, reaching $45.02. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 3,135,252 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,509,428. Alaska Air Group has a 52-week low of $30.75 and a 52-week high of $57.18. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $39.68 and its 200-day moving average price is $37.22. The company has a market capitalization of $5.66 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.87, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.86 and a beta of 1.63. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.53, a quick ratio of 0.58 and a current ratio of 0.61.

Alaska Air Group (NYSE:ALK) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 18th. The transportation company reported ($0.92) earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of ($1.09) by $0.17. Alaska Air Group had a return on equity of 14.72% and a net margin of 2.25%. The company had revenue of $2.23 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.18 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned ($0.62) EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 1.6% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts forecast that Alaska Air Group will post 4.41 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Alaska Air Group

In other Alaska Air Group news, EVP Andrew R. Harrison sold 6,500 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $38.36, for a total transaction of $249,340.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 26,048 shares in the company, valued at approximately $999,201.28. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. 0.68% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in ALK. Boston Partners lifted its stake in shares of Alaska Air Group by 64.6% during the 4th quarter. Boston Partners now owns 3,811,191 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $148,861,000 after purchasing an additional 1,495,311 shares during the period. Clearbridge Investments LLC purchased a new position in shares of Alaska Air Group during the 1st quarter worth $62,390,000. Wellington Management Group LLP purchased a new position in shares of Alaska Air Group during the 1st quarter worth $30,293,000. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of Alaska Air Group during the 4th quarter worth $30,980,000. Finally, BlackRock Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Alaska Air Group by 9.1% during the 2nd quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 7,951,500 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $422,861,000 after purchasing an additional 660,917 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 81.90% of the company’s stock.

About Alaska Air Group

Alaska Air Group, Inc, through its subsidiaries, operates airlines. It operates through three segments: Mainline, Regional, and Horizon. The company offers scheduled air transportation services on Boeing jet aircraft for passengers and cargo in the United States, and in parts of Canada, Mexico, Costa Rica, Belize, Guatemala, and the Bahamas; and for passengers across a shorter distance network within the United States, Canada, and Mexico.