American Airlines Group (NASDAQ:AAL) Upgraded to Buy at Jefferies Financial Group

American Airlines Group (NASDAQ:AAL - Get Free Report) was upgraded by investment analysts at Jefferies Financial Group from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research report issued to clients and investors on Monday, Marketbeat.com reports. The firm presently has a $20.00 price target on the airline's stock, up from their prior price target of $12.00. Jefferies Financial Group's price target would indicate a potential upside of 14.16% from the stock's previous close.

AAL has been the topic of several other research reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on shares of American Airlines Group from $15.00 to $20.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Friday, October 25th. UBS Group upgraded shares of American Airlines Group from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Tuesday, December 10th. Scotiabank upgraded shares of American Airlines Group from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and set a $20.00 price objective on the stock in a report on Thursday, December 5th. Susquehanna upped their target price on shares of American Airlines Group from $11.00 to $12.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 9th. Finally, Barclays upped their target price on shares of American Airlines Group from $16.00 to $18.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Friday, December 6th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating, eleven have given a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $17.68.

American Airlines Group Trading Up 3.2 %

AAL traded up $0.55 during trading on Monday, hitting $17.52. The stock had a trading volume of 31,788,873 shares, compared to its average volume of 24,872,006. The firm has a market cap of $11.51 billion, a PE ratio of 53.09, a P/E/G ratio of 0.29 and a beta of 1.35. American Airlines Group has a 12 month low of $9.07 and a 12 month high of $18.20. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $15.54 and a 200-day simple moving average of $12.58.

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

Insider Buying and Selling

In other American Airlines Group news, CEO Robert D. Isom, Jr. sold 102,441 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, December 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $17.21, for a total value of $1,763,009.61. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 2,967,984 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $51,079,004.64. This represents a 3.34 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. 0.49% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On American Airlines Group

Several large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Blue Trust Inc. increased its stake 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 in the last quarter. Sunbelt Securities Inc. increased its position in shares of American Airlines Group by 8.2% during the second quarter. Sunbelt Securities Inc. now owns 14,894 shares of the airline's stock worth $169,000 after acquiring an additional 1,126 shares in the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. increased 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 acquiring an additional 1,468 shares in the last quarter. Coastwise Capital Group LLC increased its position in shares of American Airlines Group by 5.3% during the third quarter. Coastwise Capital Group LLC now owns 37,840 shares of the airline's stock worth $425,000 after acquiring an additional 1,900 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Concurrent Investment Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of American Airlines Group by 20.2% during the third quarter. Concurrent Investment Advisors LLC now owns 12,663 shares of the airline's stock worth $142,000 after acquiring an additional 2,128 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 52.44% of the company's stock.

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.