Alaska Air Group, Inc. (NYSE:ALK) Receives $70.14 Consensus Target Price from Brokerages

Alaska Air Group, Inc. (NYSE:ALK) has received a consensus rating of “Buy” from the fourteen research firms that are currently covering the company, MarketBeat.com reports. Fourteen investment analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating. The average 12 month price objective among brokerages that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $70.14.

Several equities analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Morgan Stanley lifted their price objective on shares of Alaska Air Group from $70.00 to $90.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 11th. The Goldman Sachs Group reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $70.00 price objective on shares of Alaska Air Group in a research note on Friday, November 15th. UBS Group lifted their target price on shares of Alaska Air Group from $81.00 to $82.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th. Evercore ISI dropped their target price on shares of Alaska Air Group from $60.00 to $55.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, October 3rd. Finally, Melius Research raised shares of Alaska Air Group from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $56.00 target price on the stock in a research report on Monday, October 28th.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Alaska Air Group news, EVP Andrew R. Harrison sold 13,880 shares of Alaska Air Group stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, December 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $64.01, for a total value of $888,458.80. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 20,638 shares in the company, valued at $1,321,038.38. The trade was a 40.21 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CFO Shane R. Tackett sold 5,000 shares of Alaska Air Group stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, December 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $63.56, for a total transaction of $317,800.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 27,362 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,739,128.72. This trade represents a 15.45 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders sold 34,473 shares of company stock worth $2,198,342. 0.68% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Alaska Air Group

A number of institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in ALK. Natixis Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Alaska Air Group in the second quarter valued at approximately $501,000. TD Asset Management Inc acquired a new stake in Alaska Air Group in the second quarter valued at approximately $1,454,000. Choreo LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Alaska Air Group in the second quarter worth $281,000. American Century Companies Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Alaska Air Group by 8.3% in the second quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 1,590,078 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $64,239,000 after buying an additional 122,325 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Qsemble Capital Management LP acquired a new stake in shares of Alaska Air Group in the second quarter worth $1,833,000. 81.90% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Alaska Air Group Stock Down 2.6 %

Alaska Air Group stock opened at $66.42 on Thursday. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $58.86 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $46.62. The stock has a market cap of $8.43 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.78, a PEG ratio of 1.24 and a beta of 1.54. The company has a current ratio of 0.60, a quick ratio of 0.57 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.93. Alaska Air Group has a 52 week low of $32.62 and a 52 week high of $69.10.

Alaska Air Group (NYSE:ALK) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 31st. The transportation company reported $2.25 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.22 by $0.03. The company had revenue of $3.07 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3 billion. Alaska Air Group had a net margin of 2.99% and a return on equity of 12.81%. The business’s revenue was up 8.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $1.83 EPS. On average, analysts expect that Alaska Air Group will post 4.3 EPS for the current fiscal 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.