United Airlines (NASDAQ:UAL) Sees Large Volume Increase on Analyst Upgrade

United Airlines Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:UAL - Get Free Report) shares saw unusually-strong trading volume on Thursday after Raymond James raised their price target on the stock from $66.00 to $70.00. Raymond James currently has an outperform rating on the stock. Approximately 9,046,176 shares were traded during mid-day trading, a decline of 8% from the previous session's volume of 9,844,872 shares.The stock last traded at $50.34 and had previously closed at $48.74.

Several other equities research analysts have also recently weighed in on the company. UBS Group started coverage on United Airlines in a research note on Wednesday, March 20th. They issued a "neutral" rating and a $47.00 price target for the company. TD Cowen increased their price target on United Airlines from $55.00 to $65.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 24th. Bank of America upped their target price on United Airlines from $60.00 to $70.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday. Redburn Atlantic lowered United Airlines from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating and set a $50.00 target price on the stock. in a research report on Tuesday, February 13th. Finally, Susquehanna upped their target price on United Airlines from $55.00 to $60.00 and gave the company a "positive" rating in a research report on Thursday. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $66.53.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in UAL. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of United Airlines by 7.9% in the first quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 22,619 shares of the transportation company's stock valued at $1,048,000 after purchasing an additional 1,663 shares in the last quarter. Panagora Asset Management Inc. bought a new position in shares of United Airlines in the first quarter valued at approximately $482,000. Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Public School Empls Retrmt SYS lifted its holdings in shares of United Airlines by 6.6% in the first quarter. Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Public School Empls Retrmt SYS now owns 43,326 shares of the transportation company's stock valued at $2,009,000 after purchasing an additional 2,683 shares in the last quarter. Great West Life Assurance Co. Can lifted its holdings in shares of United Airlines by 2.0% in the first quarter. Great West Life Assurance Co. Can now owns 72,334 shares of the transportation company's stock valued at $3,503,000 after purchasing an additional 1,438 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Vontobel Holding Ltd. lifted its holdings in shares of United Airlines by 81.9% in the first quarter. Vontobel Holding Ltd. now owns 14,960 shares of the transportation company's stock valued at $694,000 after purchasing an additional 6,737 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 69.69% of the company's stock.

United Airlines Stock Up 5.5 %

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.70, a current ratio of 0.83 and a quick ratio of 0.76. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $44.09 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $41.35. The company has a market cap of $16.91 billion, a P/E ratio of 6.33, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.58 and a beta of 1.55.

United Airlines (NASDAQ:UAL - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, January 23rd. The transportation company reported $2.00 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $1.61 by $0.39. The company had revenue of $13.63 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $13.55 billion. United Airlines had a return on equity of 40.50% and a net margin of 4.90%. The company's revenue for the quarter was up 9.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $2.46 earnings per share. On average, research analysts expect that United Airlines Holdings, Inc. will post 9.46 EPS for the current year.

United Airlines Company Profile

United Airlines Holdings, Inc, through its subsidiaries, provides air transportation services in North America, Asia, Europe, Africa, the Pacific, the Middle East, and Latin America. The company transports people and cargo through its mainline and regional fleets. It also offers catering, ground handling, flight academy, and maintenance services for third parties.