Alaska Air Group (NYSE:ALK) Posts Quarterly Earnings Results, Beats Expectations By $0.36 EPS

Alaska Air Group (NYSE:ALK) announced its quarterly earnings results on Monday. The transportation company reported ($2.55) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($2.91) by $0.36, MarketWatch Earnings reports. The company had revenue of $808.00 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $813.37 million. Alaska Air Group had a negative net margin of 13.96% and a negative return on equity of 19.39%. The firm’s revenue was down 63.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.46 EPS.

Shares of NYSE ALK traded down $1.82 during midday trading on Wednesday, reaching $50.01. The stock had a trading volume of 33,944 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,818,592. The firm has a market cap of $6.18 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -9.06 and a beta of 1.81. Alaska Air Group has a twelve month low of $20.02 and a twelve month high of $67.48. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.77, a quick ratio of 1.05 and a current ratio of 1.06. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $51.80 and its 200 day moving average price is $43.02.

In other news, CFO Shane R. Tackett sold 2,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $38.22, for a total value of $95,550.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 11,174 shares in the company, valued at approximately $427,070.28. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director Jessie J. Knight, Jr. purchased 855 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 20th. The stock was purchased at an average price of $47.35 per share, for a total transaction of $40,484.25. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 2,221 shares in the company, valued at approximately $105,164.35. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 13,130 shares of company stock worth $659,102 in the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 0.47% of the company’s stock.

Several equities research analysts recently issued reports on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price target on shares of Alaska Air Group from $55.00 to $64.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 7th. 140166 lifted their price target on shares of Alaska Air Group from $50.00 to $60.00 and gave the company a “positive” rating in a report on Thursday, January 14th. Zacks Investment Research upgraded shares of Alaska Air Group from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $58.00 target price on the stock in a research report on Friday, January 22nd. Raymond James lifted their target price on shares of Alaska Air Group from $50.00 to $65.00 and gave the stock a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Monday, November 30th. Finally, UBS Group upgraded shares of Alaska Air Group from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their target price for the stock from $43.00 to $64.00 in a research report on Friday, December 11th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, ten have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Alaska Air Group presently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $53.25.

Alaska Air Group Company Profile

Alaska Air Group, Inc, through its subsidiaries, provides passenger and cargo air transportation services. The company operates through three segments: Mainline, Regional, and Horizon. It has a network of approximately 1,300 daily flights to 115 destinations across the United States, Mexico, Canada, and Costa Rica.

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