Traders Buy High Volume of American Airlines Group Call Options (NASDAQ:AAL)

American Airlines Group Inc. (NASDAQ:AAL) saw some unusual options trading activity on Thursday. Stock investors bought 229,207 call options on the stock. This is an increase of approximately 65% compared to the typical volume of 139,166 call options.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have issued reports on AAL. Barclays lifted their target price on shares of American Airlines Group from $11.00 to $12.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday. TD Cowen lifted their target price on shares of American Airlines Group to $13.00 and gave the company an “unchanged” rating in a research report on Friday, April 25th. Susquehanna dropped their target price on shares of American Airlines Group from $18.00 to $10.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, April 7th. Sanford C. Bernstein upped their price objective on shares of American Airlines Group from $12.00 to $15.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 13th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group cut shares of American Airlines Group from a “neutral” rating to a “sell” rating and cut their price objective for the company from $16.00 to $8.00 in a research note on Tuesday, April 8th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating, nine have given a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $15.89.

American Airlines Group Stock Up 12.7%

American Airlines Group stock opened at $12.94 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $8.53 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.38, a PEG ratio of 1.71 and a beta of 1.36. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $11.31 and its 200 day moving average is $13.01. American Airlines Group has a 52-week low of $8.50 and a 52-week high of $19.10.

American Airlines Group (NASDAQ:AAL) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 24th. The airline reported ($0.59) earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.69) by $0.10. The business had revenue of $12.55 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $12.71 billion. American Airlines Group had a net margin of 1.26% and a negative return on equity of 26.59%. The business’s revenue was down .2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted ($0.34) earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that American Airlines Group will post 2.42 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Trading of American Airlines Group

Several hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in shares of American Airlines Group by 1.0% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 63,625,284 shares of the airline’s stock valued at $671,247,000 after purchasing an additional 639,760 shares during the last quarter. Primecap Management Co. CA raised its position in American Airlines Group by 0.4% during the 1st quarter. Primecap Management Co. CA now owns 60,445,097 shares of the airline’s stock worth $637,696,000 after buying an additional 219,390 shares during the last quarter. U S Global Investors Inc. raised its position in American Airlines Group by 8.7% during the 1st quarter. U S Global Investors Inc. now owns 7,181,246 shares of the airline’s stock worth $75,762,000 after buying an additional 576,612 shares during the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp raised its position in American Airlines Group by 22.0% during the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 5,437,904 shares of the airline’s stock worth $94,783,000 after buying an additional 980,409 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its position in American Airlines Group by 21.8% during the 4th quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 5,280,289 shares of the airline’s stock worth $92,043,000 after buying an additional 943,336 shares during the last quarter. 52.44% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

About American Airlines Group

American Airlines Group Inc, through its subsidiaries, operates as a network air carrier. The company provides scheduled air transportation services for passengers and cargo through its hubs in Charlotte, Chicago, Dallas/Fort Worth, Los Angeles, Miami, New York, Philadelphia, Phoenix, and Washington, DC, as well as through partner gateways in London, Doha, Madrid, Seattle/Tacoma, Sydney, and Tokyo.