United Airlines (NASDAQ:UAL) Lowered to Sell at StockNews.com

StockNews.com lowered shares of United Airlines (NASDAQ:UAL) from a hold rating to a sell rating in a research note issued to investors on Friday.

Other equities research analysts have also recently issued reports about the company. Bank of America raised United Airlines from an underperform rating to a buy rating and increased their price objective for the company from $40.00 to $56.00 in a research report on Tuesday, January 9th. TD Cowen increased their target price on United Airlines from $55.00 to $65.00 and gave the company an outperform rating in a report on Wednesday, January 24th. Susquehanna lowered their target price on United Airlines from $60.00 to $55.00 and set a positive rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday. UBS Group initiated coverage on United Airlines in a report on Wednesday, March 20th. They issued a neutral rating and a $47.00 target price on the stock. Finally, Evercore ISI raised United Airlines from an in-line rating to an outperform rating and increased their target price for the company from $58.00 to $65.00 in a report on Friday, February 9th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus price target of $64.60.

United Airlines Stock Performance

Shares of UAL stock opened at $41.80 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $13.71 billion, a P/E ratio of 5.30, a PEG ratio of 0.60 and a beta of 1.55. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $43.92 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $41.33. United Airlines has a fifty-two week low of $33.68 and a fifty-two week high of $58.23. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.70, a quick ratio of 0.76 and a current ratio of 0.83.

United Airlines (NASDAQ:UAL) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, January 23rd. The transportation company reported $2.00 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.61 by $0.39. United Airlines had a return on equity of 41.01% and a net margin of 4.87%. The company had revenue of $13.63 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $13.55 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $2.46 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 9.9% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts expect that United Airlines will post 9.55 earnings per share for the current year.

Institutional Trading of United Airlines

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in UAL. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in United Airlines by 2.1% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 34,550,592 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $1,601,764,000 after buying an additional 700,850 shares in the last quarter. Capital International Investors purchased a new position in United Airlines during the 1st quarter valued at approximately $351,299,000. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in United Airlines by 2.1% during the 1st quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 7,018,196 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $310,174,000 after buying an additional 146,791 shares in the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. grew its holdings in United Airlines by 23.5% during the 3rd quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 4,649,616 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $196,679,000 after buying an additional 885,199 shares in the last quarter. Finally, U S Global Investors Inc. grew its holdings in United Airlines by 31.9% during the 4th quarter. U S Global Investors Inc. now owns 4,159,899 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $171,637,000 after buying an additional 1,005,170 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 69.69% of the company’s stock.

About United Airlines

United Airlines Holdings, Inc, through its subsidiaries, provides air transportation services in North America, Asia, Europe, Africa, the Pacific, the Middle East, and Latin America. The company transports people and cargo through its mainline and regional fleets. It also offers catering, ground handling, flight academy, and maintenance services for third parties.