American Airlines Group Inc. (NASDAQ:AAL) Short Interest Down 11.0% in March

American Airlines Group Inc. (NASDAQ:AAL) was the target of a significant decline in short interest in March. As of March 31st, there was short interest totalling 40,560,000 shares, a decline of 11.0% from the March 15th total of 45,560,000 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 34,010,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 1.2 days.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have commented on AAL. Citigroup reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $20.00 price objective on shares of American Airlines Group in a research note on Thursday, March 14th. Evercore ISI reaffirmed a “hold” rating and set a $17.00 target price on shares of American Airlines Group in a research report on Monday, January 29th. Barclays lifted their target price on American Airlines Group from $13.00 to $14.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research report on Friday, January 26th. TD Cowen raised American Airlines Group from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and lifted their target price for the company from $14.00 to $21.00 in a research report on Friday, January 26th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price on American Airlines Group from $19.00 to $22.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, January 26th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating and eleven have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, American Airlines Group has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $17.53.

American Airlines Group Price Performance

Shares of AAL opened at $13.03 on Wednesday. The firm has a market cap of $8.53 billion, a PE ratio of 11.85, a PEG ratio of 0.11 and a beta of 1.57. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $14.62 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $13.56. American Airlines Group has a 1 year low of $10.86 and a 1 year high of $19.08.

American Airlines Group (NASDAQ:AAL) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, January 25th. The airline reported $0.29 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.11 by $0.18. The firm had revenue of $13.06 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $13.01 billion. American Airlines Group had a negative return on equity of 36.28% and a net margin of 1.56%. The business’s revenue was down 1.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $1.17 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts anticipate that American Airlines Group will post 2.53 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Trading of American Airlines Group

Several hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Jupiter Asset Management Ltd. bought a new stake in shares of American Airlines Group during the 3rd quarter valued at $59,411,000. Invesco Ltd. raised its stake in shares of American Airlines Group by 28.3% during the 3rd quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 12,119,358 shares of the airline’s stock valued at $155,249,000 after purchasing an additional 2,672,793 shares during the period. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company grew its position in American Airlines Group by 502.0% during the first quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 2,986,179 shares of the airline’s stock worth $54,498,000 after buying an additional 2,490,121 shares in the last quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC purchased a new position in American Airlines Group during the first quarter worth about $44,800,000. Finally, Qube Research & Technologies Ltd purchased a new position in American Airlines Group during the third quarter worth about $28,867,000. 52.44% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

About American Airlines Group

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.