Traders Buy High Volume of Put Options on American Airlines Group (NASDAQ:AAL)

American Airlines Group Inc. (NASDAQ:AAL) was the target of some unusual options trading on Monday. Stock traders purchased 138,766 put options on the stock. This is an increase of 41% compared to the average volume of 98,607 put options.

Institutional Trading of American Airlines Group

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Titan Investment Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of American Airlines Group during the 4th quarter valued at about $1,498,000. Compound Planning Inc. purchased a new stake in American Airlines Group in the 4th quarter worth approximately $174,000. Invesco Ltd. raised its stake in American Airlines Group by 3.0% during the 4th quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 3,349,837 shares of the airline’s stock worth $51,353,000 after acquiring an additional 96,145 shares during the period. Corient Private Wealth LLC lifted its holdings in American Airlines Group by 151.6% during the fourth quarter. Corient Private Wealth LLC now owns 104,251 shares of the airline’s stock valued at $1,598,000 after purchasing an additional 62,812 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV lifted its holdings in American Airlines Group by 8.4% during the fourth quarter. Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV now owns 59,864 shares of the airline’s stock valued at $918,000 after purchasing an additional 4,653 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 52.44% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts recently commented on AAL shares. Barclays increased their price objective on American Airlines Group from $12.00 to $16.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Monday, January 12th. Wells Fargo & Company began coverage on shares of American Airlines Group in a report on Thursday, December 18th. They set an “equal weight” rating and a $17.00 price target on the stock. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “sell (d+)” rating on shares of American Airlines Group in a research note on Monday, December 29th. BMO Capital Markets restated a “market perform” rating and set a $17.00 price objective on shares of American Airlines Group in a research report on Wednesday, January 28th. Finally, UBS Group raised their target price on shares of American Airlines Group from $20.00 to $21.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 6th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, eight have given a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $16.73.

American Airlines Group Price Performance

Shares of AAL traded down $0.51 on Monday, reaching $12.57. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 45,233,421 shares, compared to its average volume of 57,002,008. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $14.70 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $13.63. The stock has a market capitalization of $8.30 billion, a P/E ratio of 74.15, a PEG ratio of 0.50 and a beta of 1.22. American Airlines Group has a 12-month low of $8.50 and a 12-month high of $16.50.

American Airlines Group (NASDAQ:AAL) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, January 27th. The airline reported $0.16 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.38 by ($0.22). The business had revenue of $14 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $14.12 billion. American Airlines Group had a negative return on equity of 5.90% and a net margin of 0.20%.The firm’s revenue was up 2.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $0.86 earnings per share. American Airlines Group has set its Q1 2026 guidance at -0.500–0.100 EPS and its FY 2026 guidance at 1.700-2.700 EPS. Analysts expect that American Airlines Group will post 2.42 earnings per share for the current year.

American Airlines Group Company Profile

American Airlines Group Inc is a leading global airline holding company headquartered in Fort Worth, Texas. Formed in December 2013 through the merger of AMR Corporation (parent of American Airlines) and US Airways Group, the company operates one of the world’s largest passenger and cargo networks. Its subsidiaries include American Airlines, which provides mainline service, and American Eagle, a network of regional carriers operating short- and medium-haul routes on behalf of the mainline carrier.

The company offers scheduled air transportation for passengers and cargo to more than 350 destinations in over 50 countries.