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

Alaska Air Group, Inc. (NYSE:ALK) 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.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms recently issued reports on ALK. TD Cowen upped their price objective on shares of Alaska Air Group from $41.00 to $49.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, April 5th. Evercore ISI upped their price objective on shares of Alaska Air Group from $55.00 to $65.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, April 4th. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Alaska Air Group from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 9th. Susquehanna downgraded shares of Alaska Air Group from a “positive” rating to a “neutral” rating and upped their price objective for the stock from $39.00 to $40.00 in a report on Wednesday, January 10th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised shares of Alaska Air Group from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their price objective for the stock from $44.00 to $51.00 in a report on Tuesday, February 20th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Alaska Air Group has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $57.44.

Alaska Air Group Trading Up 6.2 %

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

Alaska Air Group (NYSE:ALK) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 18th. The transportation company reported ($0.92) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.85) by ($0.07). Alaska Air Group had a net margin of 2.25% and a return on equity of 14.72%. The business had revenue of $2.23 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.18 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted ($0.62) EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 1.6% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts forecast that Alaska Air Group, Inc. will post 4.41 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity

In other news, EVP Andrew R. Harrison sold 6,500 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 28th. The shares were 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 in the company, valued at approximately $999,201.28. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Corporate insiders own 0.68% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Alaska Air Group

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in shares of Alaska Air Group by 0.3% during the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 14,461,295 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $536,225,000 after purchasing an additional 47,871 shares in the last quarter. BlackRock Inc. increased its position in shares of Alaska Air Group by 9.1% during the 2nd quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 7,951,500 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $422,861,000 after purchasing an additional 660,917 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its position in shares of Alaska Air Group by 13.8% during the 4th quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 5,439,909 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $212,543,000 after purchasing an additional 660,455 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp increased its position in shares of Alaska Air Group by 2.3% during the 2nd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 4,105,350 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $218,323,000 after purchasing an additional 91,940 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Boston Partners increased its position in shares of Alaska Air Group by 64.6% during the 4th quarter. Boston Partners now owns 3,811,191 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $148,861,000 after purchasing an additional 1,495,311 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.