Short Interest in American Airlines Group Inc. (NASDAQ:AAL) Drops By 11.6%

American Airlines Group Inc. (NASDAQ:AAL) saw a significant drop in short interest during the month of September. As of September 30th, there was short interest totalling 84,430,000 shares, a drop of 11.6% from the September 15th total of 95,520,000 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 37,540,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 2.2 days.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On American Airlines Group

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of AAL. Quarry LP bought a new position in American Airlines Group during the fourth quarter worth about $34,000. EP Wealth Advisors LLC grew its position in shares of American Airlines Group by 8.2% during the 4th quarter. EP Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 28,187 shares of the airline’s stock worth $387,000 after purchasing an additional 2,145 shares in the last quarter. HighPoint Advisor Group LLC bought a new position in shares of American Airlines Group during the fourth quarter worth approximately $179,000. GAMMA Investing LLC raised its position in shares of American Airlines Group by 50.6% in the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 4,049 shares of the airline’s stock valued at $62,000 after buying an additional 1,361 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Alaska Permanent Fund Corp boosted its stake in shares of American Airlines Group by 12.9% in the first quarter. Alaska Permanent Fund Corp now owns 174,606 shares of the airline’s stock valued at $2,680,000 after buying an additional 19,912 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 52.44% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts recently commented on the stock. Susquehanna increased their target price on shares of American Airlines Group from $11.00 to $12.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 9th. BNP Paribas upgraded shares of American Airlines Group to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, September 19th. TD Securities lowered their target price on American Airlines Group from $10.00 to $7.00 in a research report on Friday, July 26th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their target price on American Airlines Group from $21.00 to $15.00 in a report on Friday, July 26th. Finally, Evercore decreased their price target on American Airlines Group from $13.00 to $10.00 in a research note on Friday, July 26th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $13.09.

American Airlines Group Stock Performance

Shares of AAL stock opened at $12.89 on Thursday. The company has a market capitalization of $8.46 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.48, a PEG ratio of 0.26 and a beta of 1.43. American Airlines Group has a 52 week low of $9.07 and a 52 week high of $16.15. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $10.85 and a 200 day simple moving average of $11.83.

American Airlines Group (NASDAQ:AAL) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, July 25th. The airline reported $1.09 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.04 by $0.05. The company had revenue of $14.33 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $14.38 billion. American Airlines Group had a negative return on equity of 19.49% and a negative net margin of 0.23%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $1.92 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts forecast that American Airlines Group will post 1.22 EPS for the current year.

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.