Alaska Air Group (NYSE:ALK) Reaches New 12-Month High – Still a Buy?

Alaska Air Group, Inc. (NYSE:ALK) shares hit a new 52-week high during trading on Wednesday . The company traded as high as $72.41 and last traded at $72.15, with a volume of 204288 shares. The stock had previously closed at $71.41.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

ALK has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Susquehanna upgraded Alaska Air Group from a “neutral” rating to a “positive” rating and set a $95.00 target price on the stock in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their price objective on Alaska Air Group from $70.00 to $79.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 14th. Barclays increased their target price on shares of Alaska Air Group from $55.00 to $80.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, November 14th. Melius Research raised shares of Alaska Air Group from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $56.00 price objective for the company in a research report on Monday, October 28th. Finally, 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. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Alaska Air Group has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $74.86.

Alaska Air Group Stock Up 3.2 %

The firm has a market capitalization of $9.46 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.44, a PEG ratio of 0.59 and a beta of 1.54. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.93, a quick ratio of 0.57 and a current ratio of 0.60. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $63.31 and a 200-day moving average of $49.23.

Alaska Air Group (NYSE:ALK) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, January 22nd. The transportation company reported $0.97 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.45 by $0.52. Alaska Air Group had a net margin of 3.37% and a return on equity of 14.78%. Research analysts predict that Alaska Air Group, Inc. will post 6.03 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, EVP Andrew R. Harrison sold 91,745 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, January 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $71.14, for a total value of $6,526,739.30. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 20,638 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,468,187.32. This represents a 81.64 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, SVP Andrea L. Schneider sold 3,700 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, December 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $63.50, for a total transaction of $234,950.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 21,086 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,338,961. This trade represents a 14.93 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 135,718 shares of company stock worth $9,379,631 over the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 0.68% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in ALK. FMR LLC grew its position in Alaska Air Group by 32.4% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 1,084,639 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $49,037,000 after buying an additional 265,343 shares in the last quarter. Bank of Montreal Can grew its holdings in shares of Alaska Air Group by 54.7% during the third quarter. Bank of Montreal Can now owns 57,577 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $2,591,000 after purchasing an additional 20,347 shares in the last quarter. Friedenthal Financial bought a new position in shares of Alaska Air Group in the fourth quarter worth approximately $772,000. Entropy Technologies LP increased its position in shares of Alaska Air Group by 358.9% in the third quarter. Entropy Technologies LP now owns 27,428 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $1,240,000 after purchasing an additional 21,451 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Quantbot Technologies LP raised its stake in Alaska Air Group by 156.3% in the third quarter. Quantbot Technologies LP now owns 83,777 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $3,788,000 after purchasing an additional 51,096 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 81.90% of the company’s stock.

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.