Swiss National Bank Purchases 1,700 Shares of Alaska Air Group, Inc. (NYSE:ALK)

Swiss National Bank boosted its position in Alaska Air Group, Inc. (NYSE:ALK – Get Rating) by 2.3% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 76,500 shares of the transportation company’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,700 shares during the period. Swiss National Bank owned 0.06% of Alaska Air Group worth $3,285,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. State of Michigan Retirement System lifted its holdings in shares of Alaska Air Group by 0.6% in the fourth quarter. State of Michigan Retirement System now owns 34,462 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $1,480,000 after purchasing an additional 200 shares in the last quarter. Coombe Bender & Co LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Alaska Air Group by 0.4% in the third quarter. Coombe Bender & Co LLC now owns 56,208 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $2,201,000 after purchasing an additional 222 shares in the last quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Alaska Air Group by 13.7% in the fourth quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. now owns 2,077 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $89,000 after purchasing an additional 250 shares in the last quarter. Penobscot Wealth Management lifted its holdings in shares of Alaska Air Group by 2.7% in the fourth quarter. Penobscot Wealth Management now owns 11,109 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $477,000 after purchasing an additional 296 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Geneos Wealth Management Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Alaska Air Group by 19.9% in the first quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. now owns 1,811 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $105,000 after purchasing an additional 300 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 77.04% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director J Kenneth Thompson sold 3,500 shares of Alaska Air Group stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $48.58, for a total value of $170,030.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 29,907 shares in the company, valued at $1,452,882.06. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. 0.68% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Alaska Air Group Stock Performance

NYSE:ALK opened at $44.92 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49, a current ratio of 0.64 and a quick ratio of 0.62. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $42.25 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $45.44. Alaska Air Group, Inc. has a 1 year low of $37.19 and a 1 year high of $53.96. The company has a market capitalization of $5.75 billion, a P/E ratio of 97.65, a P/E/G ratio of 0.29 and a beta of 1.51.

Alaska Air Group (NYSE:ALK – Get Rating) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 20th. The transportation company reported ($0.62) earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($0.48) by ($0.14). The company had revenue of $2.20 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.19 billion. Alaska Air Group had a net margin of 0.58% and a return on equity of 17.03%. Alaska Air Group’s revenue for the quarter was up 30.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted ($1.33) earnings per share. On average, analysts expect that Alaska Air Group, Inc. will post 6.3 earnings per share for the current year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts recently commented on ALK shares. Barclays upgraded Alaska Air Group from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and lifted their price target for the stock from $54.00 to $62.00 in a report on Friday, March 10th. StockNews.com started coverage on Alaska Air Group in a report on Thursday, May 18th. They set a “hold” rating on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price target on Alaska Air Group from $91.00 to $70.00 in a report on Monday, May 8th. Raymond James upgraded Alaska Air Group from an “outperform” rating to a “strong-buy” rating and lifted their price target for the stock from $60.00 to $68.00 in a report on Monday, April 3rd. Finally, Wolfe Research lowered Alaska Air Group from an “outperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a report on Friday, January 27th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eleven have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $63.86.

Alaska Air Group Profile

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Alaska Air Group, Inc is a holding company, which engages in the provision of air transportation services. It operates through the following segments: Mainline, Regional, and Horizon. The Mainline segment includes scheduled air transportation on Alaska’s Boeing and Airbus jet aircraft for passengers and cargo throughout the U.S., and in parts of Mexico, Costa Rica and Belize.