Alaska Air Group (NYSE:ALK) Stock Gets Price Target Cut from UBS Group

Alaska Air Group (NYSE:ALK) had its price objective lowered by UBS Group from $51.00 to $48.00 in a research note released on Monday,Benzinga reports. The firm currently has a buy rating on the transportation company’s stock.

Several other brokerages also recently commented on ALK. Cantor Fitzgerald set a $41.00 target price on shares of Alaska Air Group in a report on Thursday, October 29th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price target on shares of Alaska Air Group from $92.00 to $74.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, October 22nd. Wall Street Zen cut shares of Alaska Air Group from a “sell” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a report on Monday, October 5th. BMO Capital Markets restated an “outperform” rating and set a $42.00 price objective (down from $50.00) on shares of Alaska Air Group in a research report on Thursday, October 22nd. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group restated a “buy” rating and set a $52.00 price objective on shares of Alaska Air Group in a research report on Thursday, October 22nd. Ten investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Alaska Air Group currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $52.38.

Alaska Air Group Trading Up 8.7%

ALK stock opened at $39.97 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.49, a current ratio of 0.46 and a quick ratio of 0.42. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $38.92 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $43.97. Alaska Air Group has a one year low of $32.33 and a one year high of $60.63. The stock has a market cap of $4.45 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -11.39 and a beta of 1.43.

Alaska Air Group (NYSE:ALK) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 20th. The transportation company reported $0.36 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.39 by ($0.03). The company had revenue of $4.31 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.31 billion. Alaska Air Group had a negative net margin of 2.58% and a negative return on equity of 5.42%. Alaska Air Group’s revenue for the quarter was up 14.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $1.05 earnings per share. Equities analysts anticipate that Alaska Air Group will post -4.19 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CEO Benito Minicucci bought 25,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, August 20th. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $40.06 per share, with a total value of $1,001,500.00. Following the acquisition, the chief executive officer directly owned 256,582 shares in the company, valued at $10,278,674.92. This represents a 10.80% increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. 1.00% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Alaska Air Group

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Engineers Gate Manager LP lifted its position in shares of Alaska Air Group by 1,445.3% during the 2nd quarter. Engineers Gate Manager LP now owns 87,187 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $4,551,000 after buying an additional 81,545 shares during the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. acquired a new stake in Alaska Air Group in the second quarter valued at about $1,407,000. Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio bought a new position in Alaska Air Group in the second quarter valued at about $2,230,000. Bank of America Corp DE bought a new position in Alaska Air Group in the second quarter valued at about $32,751,000. Finally, Amundi bought a new position in Alaska Air Group in the first quarter valued at about $2,205,000. Institutional investors own 81.90% of the company’s stock.

Alaska Air Group Company Profile

Alaska Air Group, Inc is an airline holding company headquartered in Seattle, Washington. Its principal subsidiaries include Alaska Airlines and Hawaiian Airlines, which operate under separate brands while serving passengers throughout North America, the Pacific and other international markets.

Alaska Airlines provides scheduled passenger and air cargo services across the United States, Canada, Mexico, Costa Rica and the Bahamas, with a strong presence on the U.S. West Coast and in Alaska.