Investors Purchase High Volume of American Airlines Group Call Options (NASDAQ:AAL)

American Airlines Group Inc. (NASDAQ:AAL) was the target of some unusual options trading on Wednesday. Stock investors purchased 107,973 call options on the stock. This represents an increase of 33% compared to the average volume of 81,261 call options.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts recently commented on AAL shares. TD Cowen decreased their price objective on American Airlines Group from $16.00 to $15.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, October 2nd. Susquehanna reduced their target price on shares of American Airlines Group from $20.00 to $15.00 and set a “positive” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, October 7th. Zacks Research cut shares of American Airlines Group from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, August 21st. Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of American Airlines Group from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Saturday, October 10th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on shares of American Airlines Group from $22.00 to $24.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, July 24th. Nine analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, ten have issued a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $17.28.

American Airlines Group Stock Performance

American Airlines Group stock traded up $0.80 during trading on Wednesday, reaching $13.62. The company had a trading volume of 56,090,967 shares, compared to its average volume of 76,937,039. American Airlines Group has a 12-month low of $10.09 and a 12-month high of $18.79. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $12.92 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $13.54. The firm has a market capitalization of $9.02 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -18.66 and a beta of 1.45.

American Airlines Group (NASDAQ:AAL) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 22nd. The airline reported ($0.28) earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.36) by $0.08. The company had revenue of $16.34 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $16.21 billion. American Airlines Group had a negative net margin of 0.79% and a negative return on equity of 9.11%. American Airlines Group’s revenue was up 19.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted ($0.17) earnings per share. As a group, research analysts expect that American Airlines Group will post -1.29 earnings per share for the current year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several large investors have recently made changes to their positions in AAL. Primecap Management Co. CA acquired a new position in American Airlines Group in the second quarter worth $1,278,144,000. BlackRock Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of American Airlines Group during the second quarter worth $1,144,739,000. Renaissance Technologies LLC lifted its position in shares of American Airlines Group by 569.4% in the 1st quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 9,687,232 shares of the airline’s stock worth $104,041,000 after buying an additional 8,240,100 shares during the last quarter. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. bought a new position in shares of American Airlines Group in the 2nd quarter worth about $119,628,000. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp acquired a new position in shares of American Airlines Group in the 2nd quarter valued at about $68,132,000. 52.44% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

American Airlines Group Company Profile

American Airlines Group Inc is a holding company whose principal subsidiary, American Airlines, provides scheduled passenger air transportation and air cargo services. The company operates a large mainline network under the American Airlines brand and offers regional service through carriers operating as American Eagle. Its services include domestic and international flights, connecting passengers through a network of hubs and focus cities.

American Airlines serves destinations throughout the United States, as well as markets in Canada, Mexico, the Caribbean, Central and South America, Europe, Asia and other international regions.