Alaska Air Group (NYSE:ALK) Shares Gap Up to $42.72

Alaska Air Group, Inc. (NYSE:ALK) shares gapped up before the market opened on Thursday . The stock had previously closed at $42.72, but opened at $44.12. Alaska Air Group shares last traded at $43.80, with a volume of 623,963 shares traded.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on ALK. Susquehanna downgraded shares of Alaska Air Group from a “positive” rating to a “neutral” rating and boosted their target price for the stock from $39.00 to $40.00 in a report on Wednesday, January 10th. Melius cut shares of Alaska Air Group from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, January 8th. UBS Group started coverage on shares of Alaska Air Group in a research report on Wednesday, March 20th. They set a “buy” rating and a $54.00 price objective for the company. StockNews.com cut shares of Alaska Air Group from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 9th. Finally, Evercore ISI boosted their target price on shares of Alaska Air Group from $55.00 to $65.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 4th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Alaska Air Group presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $57.44.

Alaska Air Group Price Performance

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.53, a current ratio of 0.61 and a quick ratio of 0.58. The firm has a market cap of $5.71 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.78, a PEG ratio of 0.82 and a beta of 1.63. The company’s 50-day moving average is $39.36 and its two-hundred day moving average is $37.12.

Alaska Air Group (NYSE:ALK) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, April 18th. The transportation company reported ($0.92) EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($0.85) by ($0.07). The business had revenue of $2.23 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.18 billion. Alaska Air Group had a return on equity of 14.72% and a net margin of 2.25%. The firm’s revenue was up 1.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted ($0.62) EPS. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Alaska Air Group, Inc. will post 4.41 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In other news, EVP Andrew R. Harrison sold 6,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $38.36, for a total value of $249,340.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 26,048 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $999,201.28. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. 0.68% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. International Assets Investment Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Alaska Air Group by 1,676.8% in the fourth quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 149,089 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $58,250,000 after buying an additional 140,698 shares during the period. Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its holdings in shares of Alaska Air Group by 16.3% during the 3rd quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 2,554,257 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $94,712,000 after buying an additional 358,749 shares in the last quarter. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System bought a new position in shares of Alaska Air Group during the 4th quarter worth approximately $2,813,000. Bank of New York Mellon Corp boosted its holdings in shares of Alaska Air Group by 6.3% during the 3rd quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 1,213,630 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $45,001,000 after buying an additional 71,726 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Deutsche Bank AG boosted its holdings in shares of Alaska Air Group by 63.4% during the 3rd quarter. Deutsche Bank AG now owns 366,619 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $13,594,000 after buying an additional 142,310 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 81.90% of the company’s stock.

Alaska Air Group Company Profile

Alaska Air Group, Inc, through its subsidiaries, operates airlines. It operates through three segments: Mainline, Regional, and Horizon. The company offers scheduled air transportation services on Boeing jet aircraft for passengers and cargo in the United States, and in parts of Canada, Mexico, Costa Rica, Belize, Guatemala, and the Bahamas; and for passengers across a shorter distance network within the United States, Canada, and Mexico.