American Airlines Group (NASDAQ:AAL) Reaches New 12-Month High on Analyst Upgrade

Shares of American Airlines Group Inc. (NASDAQ:AAL - Get Free Report) reached a new 52-week high during trading on Friday after Evercore ISI raised their price target on the stock to $18.00. Evercore ISI currently has a hold rating on the stock. American Airlines Group traded as high as $18.36 and last traded at $18.36, with a volume of 3156003 shares. The stock had previously closed at $17.60.

Several other equities analysts also recently weighed in on AAL. The Goldman Sachs Group reissued a "neutral" rating and set a $15.00 price target on shares of American Airlines Group in a research report on Friday, November 15th. Scotiabank upgraded American Airlines Group from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and set a $20.00 price objective for the company in a research report on Thursday, December 5th. UBS Group upgraded shares of American Airlines Group from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Tuesday, December 10th. Melius upgraded shares of American Airlines Group from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and set a $23.00 price target for the company in a report on Monday. Finally, Bank of America boosted their price objective on shares of American Airlines Group from $9.00 to $10.00 and gave the company an "underperform" rating in a research report on Friday, October 25th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating, eleven have issued a buy rating and three have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, American Airlines Group currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $18.42.

Insider Buying and Selling at American Airlines Group

In related news, CEO Robert D. Isom, Jr. sold 102,441 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Friday, December 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $17.21, for a total transaction of $1,763,009.61. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,967,984 shares in the company, valued at approximately $51,079,004.64. This trade represents a 3.34 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. 0.49% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of American Airlines Group

Large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Blue Trust Inc. boosted its holdings in American Airlines Group by 56.2% in the third quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 2,533 shares of the airline's stock valued at $29,000 after purchasing an additional 911 shares during the last quarter. Sunbelt Securities Inc. boosted its stake in shares of American Airlines Group by 8.2% during the 2nd quarter. Sunbelt Securities Inc. now owns 14,894 shares of the airline's stock valued at $169,000 after buying an additional 1,126 shares during the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. grew its position in shares of American Airlines Group by 2.8% during the second quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 54,178 shares of the airline's stock worth $614,000 after buying an additional 1,468 shares in the last quarter. Coastwise Capital Group LLC increased its stake in shares of American Airlines Group by 5.3% in the third quarter. Coastwise Capital Group LLC now owns 37,840 shares of the airline's stock worth $425,000 after buying an additional 1,900 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Concurrent Investment Advisors LLC raised its holdings in American Airlines Group by 20.2% in the third quarter. Concurrent Investment Advisors LLC now owns 12,663 shares of the airline's stock valued at $142,000 after acquiring an additional 2,128 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 52.44% of the company's stock.

American Airlines Group Trading Up 4.4 %

The stock's 50 day simple moving average is $15.78 and its 200 day simple moving average is $12.70. The stock has a market capitalization of $12.08 billion, a P/E ratio of 55.70, a P/E/G ratio of 0.29 and a beta of 1.35.

American Airlines Group (NASDAQ:AAL - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 24th. The airline reported $0.30 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $0.16 by $0.14. American Airlines Group had a negative return on equity of 18.62% and a net margin of 0.51%. The business had revenue of $13.65 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $13.50 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $0.38 earnings per share. The company's revenue for the quarter was up 1.2% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts expect that American Airlines Group Inc. will post 1.62 EPS for the current fiscal year.

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.