American Airlines Group Sees Unusually High Options Volume (NASDAQ:AAL)

American Airlines Group Inc. (NASDAQ:AAL) saw unusually large options trading on Wednesday. Traders bought 97,274 put options on the company. This is an increase of 17% compared to the average volume of 83,146 put options.

American Airlines Group Trading Down 4.5 %

American Airlines Group stock traded down $0.64 during midday trading on Wednesday, reaching $13.47. 32,551,261 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 24,468,352. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $16.11 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $15.27. The firm has a market cap of $8.80 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 3.63, a PEG ratio of 0.08 and a beta of 1.56. American Airlines Group has a fifty-two week low of $11.65 and a fifty-two week high of $19.08.

American Airlines Group (NASDAQ:AAL) last released its earnings results on Thursday, July 20th. The airline reported $1.92 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.59 by $0.33. The business had revenue of $14.06 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $13.74 billion. American Airlines Group had a net margin of 4.98% and a negative return on equity of 45.44%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 4.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $0.76 earnings per share. Analysts anticipate that American Airlines Group will post 3.09 earnings per share for the current year.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On American Airlines Group

Institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Bank Julius Baer & Co. Ltd Zurich increased its stake in shares of American Airlines Group by 98,063.6% in the second quarter. Bank Julius Baer & Co. Ltd Zurich now owns 96,300,495 shares of the airline’s stock worth $1,727,631,000 after purchasing an additional 96,202,393 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of American Airlines Group by 1.7% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 69,272,683 shares of the airline’s stock worth $1,264,227,000 after purchasing an additional 1,126,106 shares during the period. Renaissance Technologies LLC increased its stake in shares of American Airlines Group by 8.8% in the second quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 17,107,332 shares of the airline’s stock worth $306,906,000 after purchasing an additional 1,384,800 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its stake in shares of American Airlines Group by 3.2% in the second quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 14,653,004 shares of the airline’s stock worth $262,507,000 after purchasing an additional 455,473 shares during the period. Finally, Two Sigma Advisers LP increased its stake in shares of American Airlines Group by 15.3% in the first quarter. Two Sigma Advisers LP now owns 12,281,900 shares of the airline’s stock worth $181,158,000 after purchasing an additional 1,626,700 shares during the period. 58.50% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts have weighed in on the company. TheStreet raised American Airlines Group from a “d+” rating to a “c” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 20th. Bank of America boosted their price objective on American Airlines Group from $9.50 to $11.00 and gave the company an “underperform” rating in a research note on Monday, June 26th. Citigroup reiterated a “neutral” rating and issued a $17.50 price objective on shares of American Airlines Group in a report on Tuesday, August 22nd. Jefferies Financial Group increased their target price on American Airlines Group from $15.00 to $20.00 in a report on Tuesday, July 11th. Finally, Susquehanna dropped their target price on American Airlines Group from $20.00 to $19.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Friday, July 21st. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have given a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $18.47.

American Airlines Group Company Profile

American Airlines Group Inc, through its subsidiaries, operates as a network air carrier. The company provides scheduled air transportation services for passengers and cargo through its hubs in Charlotte, Chicago, Dallas/Fort Worth, Los Angeles, Miami, New York, Philadelphia, Phoenix, and Washington, DC, as well as through partner gateways in London, Doha, Madrid, Seattle/Tacoma, Sydney, and Tokyo.