Stock Traders Purchase Large Volume of Alaska Air Group Call Options (NYSE:ALK)

Alaska Air Group, Inc. (NYSE:ALK) saw unusually large options trading on Monday. Stock traders bought 17,026 call options on the stock. This represents an increase of 213% compared to the average daily volume of 5,441 call options.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Alaska Air Group

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Parallel Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of Alaska Air Group by 32.5% during the 1st quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC now owns 1,570 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $58,000 after purchasing an additional 385 shares during the period. Lodge Hill Capital LLC grew its stake in shares of Alaska Air Group by 32.7% during the 1st quarter. Lodge Hill Capital LLC now owns 507,800 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $18,677,000 after acquiring an additional 125,000 shares during the period. South Dakota Investment Council grew its stake in shares of Alaska Air Group by 9.7% during the 1st quarter. South Dakota Investment Council now owns 448,271 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $16,487,000 after acquiring an additional 39,708 shares during the period. Amundi bought a new position in shares of Alaska Air Group during the 1st quarter valued at approximately $2,205,000. Finally, California State Teachers Retirement System grew its stake in shares of Alaska Air Group by 38.2% during the 1st quarter. California State Teachers Retirement System now owns 45,088 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $1,658,000 after acquiring an additional 12,453 shares during the period. 81.90% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Alaska Air Group Trading Up 3.6%

Alaska Air Group stock opened at $49.01 on Tuesday. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $41.38 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $45.90. The company has a market cap of $5.46 billion, a P/E ratio of 92.47 and a beta of 1.29. Alaska Air Group has a 52-week low of $33.03 and a 52-week high of $65.88. The company has a quick ratio of 0.39, a current ratio of 0.43 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.29.

Alaska Air Group (NYSE:ALK) last released its quarterly earnings results on Monday, April 20th. The transportation company reported ($1.68) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of ($1.61) by ($0.07). The firm had revenue of $3.30 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.31 billion. Alaska Air Group had a net margin of 0.51% and a return on equity of 4.96%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned ($0.77) earnings per share. Alaska Air Group has set its Q2 2026 guidance at -1.000–1.000 EPS. Analysts predict that Alaska Air Group will post -1.01 EPS for the current year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

ALK has been the subject of several research analyst reports. UBS Group lifted their price objective on Alaska Air Group from $54.00 to $56.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, May 26th. Weiss Ratings downgraded Alaska Air Group from a “sell (d+)” rating to a “sell (d)” rating in a report on Monday, June 1st. Zacks Research upgraded Alaska Air Group from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 6th. Bank of America reduced their price objective on Alaska Air Group from $70.00 to $60.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, April 1st. Finally, Evercore set a $60.00 price objective on Alaska Air Group in a report on Friday, April 17th. Eleven investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, one has given a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $62.00.

Alaska Air Group Company Profile

Alaska Air Group is a publicly traded holding company headquartered in Seattle, Washington, that operates two main airlines—Alaska Airlines and Horizon Air. Through these carriers, the company offers scheduled passenger and cargo services across a network spanning the United States, Canada and Mexico. Its core business activities include domestic and international air transportation, loyalty program management under the Mileage Plan brand, and ancillary revenue streams such as baggage fees, in-flight sales and code-share partnerships with other global airlines.

The roots of Alaska Air Group trace back to the foundation of its flagship carrier, Alaska Airlines, in 1932.