United Airlines Sees Unusually Large Options Volume (NASDAQ:UAL)

United Airlines Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:UAL) saw unusually large options trading activity on Friday. Stock traders purchased 73,241 call options on the company. This represents an increase of 56% compared to the average volume of 46,802 call options.

United Airlines Stock Up 3.3 %

UAL stock opened at $44.04 on Friday. United Airlines has a one year low of $33.68 and a one year high of $56.17. The stock has a market capitalization of $14.48 billion, a PE ratio of 5.44, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.69 and a beta of 1.44. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.07, a quick ratio of 0.71 and a current ratio of 0.77. The company has a fifty day moving average of $44.75 and a 200-day moving average of $47.01.

United Airlines (NASDAQ:UAL) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, July 17th. The transportation company reported $4.14 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.97 by $0.17. United Airlines had a net margin of 5.28% and a return on equity of 33.90%. The company had revenue of $14.99 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $15.04 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $5.03 EPS. The business’s revenue was up 5.7% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts expect that United Airlines will post 9.63 EPS for the current year.

Institutional Trading of United Airlines

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Strategic Investment Solutions Inc. IL acquired a new position in United Airlines during the second quarter worth about $30,000. Truist Financial Corp raised its position in United Airlines by 34.7% during the second quarter. Truist Financial Corp now owns 34,318 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $1,670,000 after acquiring an additional 8,843 shares during the last quarter. Senator Investment Group LP raised its position in United Airlines by 39.5% during the second quarter. Senator Investment Group LP now owns 1,046,051 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $50,901,000 after acquiring an additional 296,051 shares during the last quarter. Point72 Asset Management L.P. raised its position in United Airlines by 489.2% during the second quarter. Point72 Asset Management L.P. now owns 2,295,246 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $111,687,000 after acquiring an additional 1,905,664 shares during the last quarter. Finally, B. Riley Wealth Advisors Inc. raised its position in United Airlines by 23.8% during the second quarter. B. Riley Wealth Advisors Inc. now owns 6,466 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $315,000 after acquiring an additional 1,242 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 69.69% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Citigroup raised their price objective on shares of United Airlines from $80.00 to $96.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 29th. Jefferies Financial Group upgraded shares of United Airlines from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their price objective for the company from $54.00 to $65.00 in a report on Wednesday, May 29th. Wolfe Research upgraded shares of United Airlines from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $76.00 price objective on the stock in a report on Friday, May 17th. Redburn Atlantic upgraded shares of United Airlines from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $70.00 price objective on the stock in a report on Thursday, June 6th. Finally, TD Cowen raised their price objective on shares of United Airlines from $65.00 to $80.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 17th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, United Airlines has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $71.68.

United Airlines Company Profile

United Airlines Holdings, Inc, through its subsidiaries, provides air transportation services in North America, Asia, Europe, Africa, the Pacific, the Middle East, and Latin America. The company transports people and cargo through its mainline and regional fleets. It also offers catering, ground handling, flight academy, and maintenance services for third parties.