Commonwealth Equity Services LLC Sells 7,117 Shares of Alaska Air Group, Inc. (NYSE:ALK)

Commonwealth Equity Services LLC cut its stake in Alaska Air Group, Inc. (NYSE:ALK) by 13.8% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 44,602 shares of the transportation company’s stock after selling 7,117 shares during the period. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC’s holdings in Alaska Air Group were worth $1,917,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in ALK. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in Alaska Air Group by 0.3% in the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 14,461,295 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $536,225,000 after acquiring an additional 47,871 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its stake in Alaska Air Group by 13.8% in the fourth quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 5,439,909 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $212,543,000 after acquiring an additional 660,455 shares during the period. Boston Partners lifted its stake in Alaska Air Group by 64.6% in the fourth quarter. Boston Partners now owns 3,811,191 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $148,861,000 after acquiring an additional 1,495,311 shares during the period. Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its stake in Alaska Air Group by 16.3% in the third quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 2,554,257 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $94,712,000 after acquiring an additional 358,749 shares during the period. Finally, U S Global Investors Inc. lifted its stake in Alaska Air Group by 22.4% in the fourth quarter. U S Global Investors Inc. now owns 1,387,734 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $54,219,000 after acquiring an additional 253,984 shares during the period. 81.90% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts have commented on the stock. Bank of America increased their price target on shares of Alaska Air Group from $50.00 to $56.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, April 19th. Susquehanna increased their price objective on shares of Alaska Air Group from $40.00 to $42.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, April 19th. TD Cowen increased their price objective on shares of Alaska Air Group from $49.00 to $58.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, April 19th. StockNews.com raised shares of Alaska Air Group from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, April 19th. Finally, Wolfe Research raised shares of Alaska Air Group from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $55.00 price objective for the company in a research report on Friday, May 17th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $56.60.

Alaska Air Group Price Performance

ALK stock traded down $1.46 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $38.83. The stock had a trading volume of 655,132 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,153,672. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $42.03 and its 200 day simple moving average is $39.96. The company has a current ratio of 0.65, a quick ratio of 0.63 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.57. The company has a market cap of $4.93 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.55, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.54 and a beta of 1.60. Alaska Air Group, Inc. has a 52-week low of $30.75 and a 52-week high of $57.18.

Alaska Air Group (NYSE:ALK) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 18th. The transportation company reported ($0.92) earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of ($1.09) by $0.17. Alaska Air Group had a return on equity of 13.54% and a net margin of 2.34%. The company had revenue of $2.23 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.18 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted ($0.62) EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 1.6% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Alaska Air Group, Inc. will post 4.71 earnings per share for the current fiscal 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.