Alaska Air Group, Inc. (NYSE:ALK) Receives Average Rating of "Moderate Buy" from Analysts

Key Points

• Analysts maintain a “Moderate Buy” consensus on Alaska Air Group, with 10 buy, one hold and two sell ratings among 13 analysts. The average 12-month price target is $60.27, though ratings remain mixed.
• Recent analyst actions were largely positive: Goldman Sachs raised its target to $69, BMO Capital Markets to $62.50 and Susquehanna to $70, while Wall Street Zen and Weiss Ratings issued more bearish assessments.
• ALK was trading at $40.97, down from its 52-week high of $60.63. The company narrowly beat quarterly EPS expectations, reporting a loss of $0.92 per share on $4.07 billion in revenue, which increased 9.7% year over year.

Alaska Air Group, Inc. (NYSE:ALK - Get Free Report) has received a consensus recommendation of "Moderate Buy" from the thirteen research firms that are presently covering the firm, MarketBeat.com reports. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell recommendation, one has issued a hold recommendation and ten have assigned a buy recommendation to the company. The average 1 year price target among brokers that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $60.27.

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on ALK shares. The Goldman Sachs Group reissued a "buy" rating and issued a $69.00 price target (up from $58.00) on shares of Alaska Air Group in a research note on Thursday, July 2nd. BMO Capital Markets increased their price objective on shares of Alaska Air Group from $55.00 to $62.50 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Thursday, July 2nd. Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Alaska Air Group from a "sell" rating to a "strong sell" rating in a research note on Saturday, September 19th. Susquehanna boosted their target price on Alaska Air Group from $50.00 to $70.00 and gave the stock a "positive" rating in a report on Tuesday, July 7th. Finally, Weiss Ratings lowered Alaska Air Group from a "sell (d+)" rating to a "sell (d)" rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 18th.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Alaska Air Group news, EVP Andrew R. Harrison sold 5,300 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Monday, August 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $49.67, for a total value of $263,251.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 25,528 shares in the company, valued at $1,267,975.76. This represents a 17.19% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO Benito Minicucci purchased 25,000 shares of Alaska Air Group stock in a transaction dated Thursday, August 20th. The shares were bought at an average price of $40.06 per share, for a total transaction of $1,001,500.00. Following the acquisition, the chief executive officer owned 256,582 shares in the company, valued at approximately $10,278,674.92. This trade represents a 10.80% increase in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this purchase are available in the official SEC disclosure. Company insiders own 1.00% of the company's stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Alaska Air Group

A number of institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. QRG Capital Management Inc. increased its position in shares of Alaska Air Group by 10.1% during the second quarter. QRG Capital Management Inc. now owns 6,727 shares of the transportation company's stock valued at $351,000 after acquiring an additional 617 shares during the last quarter. Envestnet Portfolio Solutions Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Alaska Air Group during the second quarter worth $247,000. Capstone Financial Advisors Inc. increased its stake in shares of Alaska Air Group by 4.6% during the second quarter. Capstone Financial Advisors Inc. now owns 30,206 shares of the transportation company's stock worth $1,577,000 after buying an additional 1,339 shares during the period. Engineers Gate Manager LP raised its stake in Alaska Air Group by 1,445.3% in the second quarter. Engineers Gate Manager LP now owns 87,187 shares of the transportation company's stock valued at $4,551,000 after buying an additional 81,545 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Integrated Wealth Concepts LLC raised its holdings in Alaska Air Group by 29.9% during the second quarter. Integrated Wealth Concepts LLC now owns 32,134 shares of the transportation company's stock worth $1,677,000 after purchasing an additional 7,391 shares in the last quarter. 81.90% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Alaska Air Group Stock Up 2.4%

NYSE ALK opened at $40.97 on Friday. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $43.85 and a 200 day moving average price of $43.25. Alaska Air Group has a one year low of $33.03 and a one year high of $60.63. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.58, a quick ratio of 0.51 and a current ratio of 0.55. The company has a market cap of $4.57 billion, a P/E ratio of -26.10 and a beta of 1.28.

Alaska Air Group (NYSE:ALK - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, July 21st. The transportation company reported ($0.92) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of ($0.99) by $0.07. Alaska Air Group had a negative net margin of 1.19% and a negative return on equity of 3.11%. The company had revenue of $4.07 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $4.09 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $1.42 EPS. The firm's quarterly revenue was up 9.7% on a year-over-year basis. Alaska Air Group has set its Q3 2026 guidance at 0.000-1.000 EPS. Research analysts anticipate that Alaska Air Group will post -1.74 EPS for the current fiscal year.

About Alaska Air Group

Alaska Air Group, Inc is an airline holding company whose principal subsidiaries include Alaska Airlines, Hawaiian Airlines and regional carrier Horizon Air. The company provides scheduled passenger and air cargo transportation, along with related services such as aircraft maintenance and ground handling through affiliated businesses.

Alaska Airlines serves destinations throughout the United States, Canada, Mexico, Costa Rica and other parts of North America, while Hawaiian Airlines connects the Hawaiian Islands with the U.S.

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