DDD Partners LLC Grows Stock Position in Alaska Air Group, Inc. (NYSE:ALK)

DDD Partners LLC increased its holdings in Alaska Air Group, Inc. (NYSE:ALK) by 64.5% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 271,228 shares of the transportation company’s stock after purchasing an additional 106,343 shares during the quarter. Alaska Air Group makes up about 1.4% of DDD Partners LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 27th largest position. DDD Partners LLC’s holdings in Alaska Air Group were worth $10,597,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in ALK. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in Alaska Air Group by 0.3% in the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 14,461,295 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $536,225,000 after purchasing an additional 47,871 shares in the last quarter. BlackRock Inc. lifted its holdings in Alaska Air Group by 9.1% in the 2nd quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 7,951,500 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $422,861,000 after purchasing an additional 660,917 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp lifted its holdings in Alaska Air Group by 2.3% in the 2nd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 4,105,350 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $218,323,000 after purchasing an additional 91,940 shares in the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. lifted its holdings in Alaska Air Group by 18.5% in the 3rd quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 3,447,347 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $127,828,000 after purchasing an additional 537,147 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Alliancebernstein L.P. lifted its holdings in Alaska Air Group by 19.4% in the 4th quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. now owns 3,425,916 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $147,109,000 after purchasing an additional 556,766 shares in the last quarter. 81.90% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have recently commented on ALK. StockNews.com raised shares of Alaska Air Group from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, March 9th. TD Cowen dropped their price objective on shares of Alaska Air Group from $45.00 to $40.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, January 26th. Raymond James downgraded shares of Alaska Air Group from a “strong-buy” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research note on Monday, December 4th. Melius downgraded shares of Alaska Air Group from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, January 8th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised shares of Alaska Air Group from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their target price for the stock from $44.00 to $51.00 in a research report on Tuesday, February 20th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $55.93.

Insider Activity

In other news, EVP Andrew R. Harrison sold 6,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $38.36, for a total transaction of $249,340.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 26,048 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $999,201.28. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 0.40% of the company’s stock.

Alaska Air Group Stock Performance

Shares of ALK opened at $42.01 on Thursday. Alaska Air Group, Inc. has a 12-month low of $30.75 and a 12-month high of $57.18. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.53, a current ratio of 0.61 and a quick ratio of 0.58. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $37.48 and its 200 day moving average price is $36.71. The stock has a market capitalization of $5.30 billion, a PE ratio of 23.21, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.77 and a beta of 1.62.

Alaska Air Group (NYSE:ALK) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, January 25th. The transportation company reported $0.30 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.18 by $0.12. Alaska Air Group had a return on equity of 14.72% and a net margin of 2.25%. The firm had revenue of $2.55 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.53 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.92 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 3.0% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts forecast that Alaska Air Group, Inc. will post 4.62 EPS for the current year.

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.