Alaska Air Group Target of Unusually Large Options Trading (NYSE:ALK)

Alaska Air Group, Inc. (NYSE:ALK) was the recipient of some unusual options trading on Thursday. Stock traders purchased 6,142 call options on the company. This is an increase of approximately 111% compared to the average daily volume of 2,916 call options.

Insider Activity at Alaska Air Group

In related news, EVP Andrew R. Harrison sold 6,500 shares of Alaska Air Group 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 completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 26,048 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $999,201.28. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Insiders own 0.68% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Alaska Air Group

Large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. International Assets Investment Management LLC boosted its position in Alaska Air Group by 1,676.8% in the 4th quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 149,089 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $58,250,000 after buying an additional 140,698 shares during the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP raised its stake in Alaska Air Group by 16.3% during the 3rd quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 2,554,257 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $94,712,000 after buying an additional 358,749 shares during the period. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System acquired a new stake in Alaska Air Group during the 4th quarter worth $2,813,000. Bank of New York Mellon Corp raised its stake in Alaska Air Group by 6.3% during the 3rd quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 1,213,630 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $45,001,000 after buying an additional 71,726 shares during the period. Finally, Deutsche Bank AG raised its stake in Alaska Air Group by 63.4% during the 3rd quarter. Deutsche Bank AG now owns 366,619 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $13,594,000 after buying an additional 142,310 shares during the period. 81.90% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have weighed in on the company. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upgraded Alaska Air Group from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their target price for the company from $44.00 to $51.00 in a report 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. Susquehanna lowered Alaska Air Group from a “positive” rating to a “neutral” rating and boosted their price target for the company from $39.00 to $40.00 in a research note on Wednesday, January 10th. TD Cowen boosted their price target on Alaska Air Group from $41.00 to $49.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, April 5th. Finally, UBS Group started coverage on Alaska Air Group in a research note on Wednesday, March 20th. They set a “buy” rating and a $54.00 price target on the stock. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $57.44.

Alaska Air Group Trading Up 4.0 %

ALK stock opened at $44.45 on Friday. Alaska Air Group has a 1-year low of $30.75 and a 1-year high of $57.18. The firm has a market cap of $5.59 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.56, a P/E/G ratio of 0.82 and a beta of 1.63. The business’s 50 day moving average is $39.52 and its 200-day moving average is $37.17. The company has a current ratio of 0.61, a quick ratio of 0.58 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.53.

Alaska Air Group (NYSE:ALK) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 18th. The transportation company reported ($0.92) EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.85) by ($0.07). The business had revenue of $2.23 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.18 billion. Alaska Air Group had a return on equity of 14.72% and a net margin of 2.25%. The firm’s revenue was up 1.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company earned ($0.62) earnings per share. Equities analysts anticipate that Alaska Air Group will post 4.41 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

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.