Alaska Air Group (NYSE:ALK) Posts Quarterly Earnings Results, Beats Expectations By $0.17 EPS

Alaska Air Group (NYSE:ALK) announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday. The transportation company reported ($0.92) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of ($1.09) by $0.17, RTT News reports. Alaska Air Group had a net margin of 2.34% and a return on equity of 13.54%. The firm had revenue of $2.23 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.18 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted ($0.62) earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 1.6% compared to the same quarter last year.

Alaska Air Group Price Performance

Shares of NYSE ALK opened at $45.02 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.58, a current ratio of 0.65 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.85. Alaska Air Group has a 52 week low of $30.75 and a 52 week high of $57.18. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $39.68 and a 200-day simple moving average of $37.22. The stock has a market capitalization of $5.66 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.07, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.89 and a beta of 1.63.

Insider Activity at Alaska Air Group

In related news, EVP Andrew R. Harrison sold 6,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated 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 sale, the executive vice president now owns 26,048 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $999,201.28. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. 0.68% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in Alaska Air Group by 1.8% during the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 14,331,247 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $561,068,000 after buying an additional 257,583 shares during the period. BlackRock Inc. boosted its stake in Alaska Air Group by 9.1% during the second quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 7,951,500 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $422,861,000 after buying an additional 660,917 shares during the period. State Street Corp boosted its stake in Alaska Air Group by 2.3% during the second quarter. State Street Corp now owns 4,105,350 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $218,323,000 after buying an additional 91,940 shares during the period. Alliancebernstein L.P. boosted its stake in Alaska Air Group by 19.4% during the fourth quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. now owns 3,425,916 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $147,109,000 after buying an additional 556,766 shares during the period. Finally, Morgan Stanley boosted its stake in Alaska Air Group by 1.8% during the fourth quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 2,761,201 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $118,566,000 after buying an additional 49,354 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 81.90% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts recently issued reports on ALK shares. StockNews.com raised shares of Alaska Air Group from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday. 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 research report on Thursday, April 4th. Melius cut shares of Alaska Air Group from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, January 8th. Susquehanna upped their price objective on shares of Alaska Air Group from $40.00 to $42.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday. Finally, TD Cowen upped their price objective on shares of Alaska Air Group from $49.00 to $58.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Alaska Air Group presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $57.85.

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.