Alaska Air Group (NYSE:ALK) Rating Lowered to Sell at StockNews.com

StockNews.com downgraded shares of Alaska Air Group (NYSE:ALK) from a hold rating to a sell rating in a research report released on Tuesday morning.

Other research analysts have also issued reports about the company. Susquehanna lowered Alaska Air Group from a positive rating to a neutral rating and upped their price objective for the company from $39.00 to $40.00 in a report on Wednesday, January 10th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised Alaska Air Group from a hold rating to a buy rating and increased their target price for the stock from $44.00 to $51.00 in a report on Tuesday, February 20th. UBS Group began coverage on Alaska Air Group in a report on Wednesday, March 20th. They set a buy rating and a $54.00 target price on the stock. Melius lowered Alaska Air Group from a buy rating to a hold rating in a report on Monday, January 8th. Finally, Evercore ISI increased their target price on Alaska Air Group from $55.00 to $65.00 and gave the stock an outperform rating in a report on Thursday, April 4th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and an average target price of $57.44.

Alaska Air Group Stock Up 1.0 %

ALK opened at $43.01 on Tuesday. Alaska Air Group has a 1-year low of $30.75 and a 1-year high of $57.18. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $38.65 and its 200 day simple moving average is $36.91. The company has a current ratio of 0.61, a quick ratio of 0.58 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.53. The stock has a market cap of $5.41 billion, a PE ratio of 23.76, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.82 and a beta of 1.63.

Alaska Air Group (NYSE:ALK) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 25th. The transportation company reported $0.30 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.18 by $0.12. Alaska Air Group had a return on equity of 14.72% and a net margin of 2.25%. The business had revenue of $2.55 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.53 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $0.92 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 3.0% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts expect that Alaska Air Group will post 4.62 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Alaska Air Group

In other news, EVP Andrew R. Harrison sold 6,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $38.36, for a total value of $249,340.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 26,048 shares in the company, valued at $999,201.28. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Insiders own 0.92% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Alaska Air Group

A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in Alaska Air Group by 0.3% during the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 14,461,295 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $536,225,000 after acquiring an additional 47,871 shares during the period. BlackRock Inc. lifted its holdings in Alaska Air Group by 9.1% during the second quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 7,951,500 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $422,861,000 after acquiring an additional 660,917 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its holdings in Alaska Air Group by 13.8% during the fourth quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 5,439,909 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $212,543,000 after acquiring an additional 660,455 shares during the period. State Street Corp lifted its holdings in Alaska Air Group by 2.3% during the second quarter. State Street Corp now owns 4,105,350 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $218,323,000 after acquiring an additional 91,940 shares during the period. Finally, Boston Partners lifted its holdings in Alaska Air Group by 64.6% during the fourth quarter. Boston Partners now owns 3,811,191 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $148,861,000 after acquiring an additional 1,495,311 shares during the period. 81.90% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.