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

Alaska Air Group, Inc. (NYSE:ALK) was the recipient of unusually large options trading activity on Thursday. Traders bought 6,142 call options on the company. This is an increase of approximately 111% compared to the typical volume of 2,916 call options.

Insider Transactions at Alaska Air Group

In other news, EVP Andrew R. Harrison sold 6,500 shares of the 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 transaction, the executive vice president now owns 26,048 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $999,201.28. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Company insiders own 0.68% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Alaska Air Group

Large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. International Assets Investment Management LLC lifted its stake in Alaska Air Group by 1,676.8% during the 4th quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 149,089 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $58,250,000 after acquiring an additional 140,698 shares in the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP raised its stake in shares of Alaska Air Group by 16.3% during the 3rd quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 2,554,257 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $94,712,000 after purchasing an additional 358,749 shares during the period. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System bought a new stake in shares of Alaska Air Group during the 4th quarter worth $2,813,000. Bank of New York Mellon Corp raised its stake in shares of Alaska Air Group by 6.3% during the 3rd quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 1,213,630 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $45,001,000 after purchasing an additional 71,726 shares during the period. Finally, Deutsche Bank AG raised its stake in shares of Alaska Air Group by 63.4% during the 3rd quarter. Deutsche Bank AG now owns 366,619 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $13,594,000 after purchasing an additional 142,310 shares during the period. 81.90% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts have recently commented on ALK shares. Evercore ISI increased their target price 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. Susquehanna raised their price objective on shares of Alaska Air Group from $40.00 to $42.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upgraded shares of Alaska Air Group from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their price objective for the company from $44.00 to $51.00 in a report on Tuesday, February 20th. Bank of America raised their price objective on shares of Alaska Air Group from $50.00 to $56.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday. Finally, Melius lowered shares of Alaska Air Group from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, January 8th. 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 currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $57.85.

Alaska Air Group Stock Performance

Shares of ALK stock opened at $45.02 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $5.66 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.87, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.86 and a beta of 1.63. Alaska Air Group has a 52 week low of $30.75 and a 52 week high of $57.18. The company has a quick ratio of 0.58, a current ratio of 0.61 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.53. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $39.68 and a 200-day moving average of $37.22.

Alaska Air Group (NYSE:ALK) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 18th. The transportation company reported ($0.92) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($1.09) by $0.17. 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 the consensus estimate of $2.18 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted ($0.62) EPS. Alaska Air Group’s revenue was up 1.6% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts forecast that Alaska Air Group will post 4.41 earnings per share for the current year.

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.