American Airlines Group (NASDAQ:AAL) Trading Down 3.1% on Disappointing Earnings

Shares of American Airlines Group Inc. (NASDAQ:AAL - Get Free Report) fell 3.1% on Friday after the company announced weaker than expected quarterly earnings. The company traded as low as $13.66 and last traded at $13.69. 5,199,219 shares changed hands during trading, a decline of 85% from the average session volume of 34,170,055 shares. The stock had previously closed at $14.13.

The airline reported ($0.34) earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of ($0.28) by ($0.06). American Airlines Group had a negative return on equity of 36.28% and a net margin of 1.56%. The company had revenue of $12.57 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $12.60 billion. During the same period last year, the company posted $0.05 earnings per share. The company's revenue was up 3.1% compared to the same quarter last year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

AAL has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Sanford C. Bernstein upped their price objective on shares of American Airlines Group from $20.00 to $21.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Tuesday, March 5th. TD Cowen upgraded shares of American Airlines Group from a "market perform" rating to an "outperform" rating and upped their price objective for the stock from $14.00 to $21.00 in a report on Friday, January 26th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on shares of American Airlines Group from $19.00 to $22.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Friday, January 26th. Barclays upped their price objective on shares of American Airlines Group from $13.00 to $14.00 and gave the stock an "underweight" rating in a report on Friday, January 26th. Finally, Citigroup reiterated a "buy" rating and issued a $20.00 price objective on shares of American Airlines Group in a report on Thursday, March 14th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating and eleven have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $17.53.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On American Airlines Group

Several hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of American Airlines Group by 0.9% in the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 78,888,859 shares of the airline's stock valued at $1,010,566,000 after buying an additional 667,660 shares during the period. U S Global Investors Inc. lifted its stake in shares of American Airlines Group by 18.7% in the fourth quarter. U S Global Investors Inc. now owns 12,675,358 shares of the airline's stock valued at $174,159,000 after buying an additional 2,001,247 shares during the period. Invesco Ltd. lifted its stake in shares of American Airlines Group by 28.3% in the third quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 12,119,358 shares of the airline's stock valued at $155,249,000 after buying an additional 2,672,793 shares during the period. Northern Trust Corp raised its position in American Airlines Group by 2.1% in the third quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 4,748,260 shares of the airline's stock worth $60,825,000 after purchasing an additional 98,130 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Jupiter Asset Management Ltd. acquired a new position in American Airlines Group in the third quarter worth about $59,411,000. Institutional investors own 52.44% of the company's stock.

American Airlines Group Stock Down 1.8 %

The stock has a market cap of $9.09 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.62, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.11 and a beta of 1.57. The company's 50-day moving average is $14.46 and its 200-day moving average is $13.63.

American Airlines Group Company Profile

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.