American Airlines Group (NASDAQ:AAL) Downgraded by The Goldman Sachs Group to Sell

American Airlines Group (NASDAQ:AAL) was downgraded by equities researchers at The Goldman Sachs Group from a “neutral” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note issued on Tuesday,Briefing.com Automated Import reports. They presently have a $8.00 price target on the airline’s stock. The Goldman Sachs Group’s price objective suggests a potential downside of 19.69% from the company’s current price.

AAL has been the subject of several other reports. Citigroup cut their price objective on shares of American Airlines Group from $21.50 to $20.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, March 18th. Sanford C. Bernstein upgraded shares of American Airlines Group from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and raised their price target for the stock from $14.00 to $24.00 in a report on Tuesday, December 10th. Bank of America decreased their price objective on American Airlines Group from $16.00 to $12.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, April 3rd. StockNews.com cut American Airlines Group from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 13th. Finally, Redburn Partners upgraded American Airlines Group from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $24.00 price target for the company in a report on Wednesday, February 26th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating, eleven have given a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, American Airlines Group presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $17.20.

American Airlines Group Stock Performance

NASDAQ:AAL opened at $9.96 on Tuesday. American Airlines Group has a fifty-two week low of $8.50 and a fifty-two week high of $19.10. The company has a fifty day moving average of $13.70 and a two-hundred day moving average of $14.46. The stock has a market capitalization of $6.55 billion, a PE ratio of 8.52, a P/E/G ratio of 0.21 and a beta of 1.17.

American Airlines Group (NASDAQ:AAL) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 23rd. The airline reported $0.86 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.39 by $0.47. American Airlines Group had a negative return on equity of 28.56% and a net margin of 1.56%. Research analysts forecast that American Airlines Group will post 2.42 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity

In other news, SVP Angela Owens sold 51,906 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, January 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $17.15, for a total transaction of $890,187.90. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 112,412 shares in the company, valued at $1,927,865.80. This represents a 31.59 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Corporate insiders own 0.49% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On American Airlines Group

Several institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of AAL. Avantax Advisory Services Inc. lifted its stake in shares of American Airlines Group by 4.5% in the 4th quarter. Avantax Advisory Services Inc. now owns 14,751 shares of the airline’s stock worth $257,000 after acquiring an additional 635 shares during the period. Oregon Public Employees Retirement Fund lifted its position in American Airlines Group by 0.6% in the fourth quarter. Oregon Public Employees Retirement Fund now owns 133,774 shares of the airline’s stock valued at $2,332,000 after purchasing an additional 774 shares during the period. M&T Bank Corp increased its position in American Airlines Group by 2.4% during the 4th quarter. M&T Bank Corp now owns 34,525 shares of the airline’s stock worth $602,000 after purchasing an additional 794 shares during the period. Brooklyn Investment Group raised its stake in shares of American Airlines Group by 133.1% during the 4th quarter. Brooklyn Investment Group now owns 1,592 shares of the airline’s stock worth $28,000 after buying an additional 909 shares in the last quarter. Finally, CIBC Asset Management Inc lifted its holdings in shares of American Airlines Group by 5.2% in the 4th quarter. CIBC Asset Management Inc now owns 19,987 shares of the airline’s stock valued at $348,000 after buying an additional 981 shares during the period. 52.44% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.