Alaska Air Group (NYSE:ALK) Price Target Increased to $56.00 by Analysts at Bank of America

Alaska Air Group (NYSE:ALK) had its price target increased by Bank of America from $50.00 to $56.00 in a research note issued on Friday, Benzinga reports. The firm presently has a “buy” rating on the transportation company’s stock. Bank of America‘s price target suggests a potential upside of 26.00% from the stock’s current price.

A number of other analysts have also recently issued reports on the company. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upgraded Alaska Air Group from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price objective for the company from $44.00 to $51.00 in a research report on Tuesday, February 20th. StockNews.com cut Alaska Air Group from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 9th. Evercore ISI upped their price target on Alaska Air Group from $55.00 to $65.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 4th. Melius cut Alaska Air Group from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, January 8th. Finally, TD Cowen upped their price target on Alaska Air Group from $41.00 to $49.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, April 5th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Alaska Air Group currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $57.69.

Alaska Air Group Stock Performance

ALK opened at $44.45 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $5.59 billion, a PE ratio of 24.56, a P/E/G ratio of 0.86 and a beta of 1.63. The company has a current ratio of 0.61, a quick ratio of 0.58 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.53. Alaska Air Group has a 1 year low of $30.75 and a 1 year high of $57.18. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $39.52 and its 200-day simple moving average is $37.17.

Alaska Air Group (NYSE:ALK) last released 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). The firm had revenue of $2.23 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.18 billion. Alaska Air Group had a net margin of 2.25% and a return on equity of 14.72%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 1.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted ($0.62) earnings per share. Sell-side analysts forecast that Alaska Air Group will post 4.41 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity

In other news, EVP Andrew R. Harrison sold 6,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $38.36, for a total transaction of $249,340.00. Following the transaction, 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 this hyperlink. 0.68% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Alaska Air Group

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in ALK. Boston Partners increased its holdings in Alaska Air Group by 64.6% in the fourth quarter. Boston Partners now owns 3,811,191 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $148,861,000 after purchasing an additional 1,495,311 shares during the last quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC bought a new stake in Alaska Air Group in the first quarter valued at about $62,390,000. Wellington Management Group LLP bought a new stake in Alaska Air Group in the first quarter valued at about $30,293,000. Norges Bank bought a new stake in Alaska Air Group in the fourth quarter valued at about $30,980,000. Finally, BlackRock Inc. increased its holdings in Alaska Air Group by 9.1% in the second quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 7,951,500 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $422,861,000 after purchasing an additional 660,917 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors 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.