Alaska Air Group, Inc. (NYSE:ALK) announced its earnings results on Thursday. The company reported $1.46 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the Zacks’ consensus estimate of $1.40 by $0.06, Analyst Ratings.Net reports. The business had revenue of $1.38 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.39 billion. Alaska Air Group’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.94 EPS.

A number of brokerages have weighed in on ALK. Credit Suisse decreased their target price on shares of Alaska Air Group from $90.00 to $84.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Monday. Cowen and Company reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of Alaska Air Group in a research note on Friday. Stifel Nicolaus downgraded shares of Alaska Air Group from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 22nd. They noted that the move was a valuation call. Sidoti downgraded shares of Alaska Air Group from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 22nd. Finally, Deutsche Bank raised shares of Alaska Air Group from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their target price for the company from $84.00 to $86.00 in a research note on Friday. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating, eleven have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Alaska Air Group currently has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $88.62.

In related news, CEO Bradley D. Tilden sold 5,000 shares of Alaska Air Group stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, January 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $69.42, for a total transaction of $347,100.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 149,352 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $10,368,015.84. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, COO Benito Minicucci sold 2,000 shares of Alaska Air Group stock in a transaction dated Friday, December 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $84.00, for a total transaction of $168,000.00. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 44,704 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,755,136. The disclosure for this sale can be found here.

A hedge fund recently raised its stake in Alaska Air Group stock. Livforsakringsbolaget Skandia Omsesidigt boosted its position in Alaska Air Group, Inc. (NYSE:ALK) by 72.8% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The hedge fund owned 58,629 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 24,700 shares during the period. Livforsakringsbolaget Skandia Omsesidigt’s holdings in Alaska Air Group were worth $4,720,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Shares of Alaska Air Group (NYSE:ALK) opened at 72.86 on Monday. Alaska Air Group has a 12-month low of $58.15 and a 12-month high of $87.17. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $78.06 and its 200-day moving average is $77.46. The stock has a market cap of $9.12 billion and a PE ratio of 11.11.

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, March 8th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, February 23rd will be issued a dividend of $0.275 per share. This represents a $1.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.51%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 19th. This is a boost from Alaska Air Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.20.

Alaska Air Group, Inc. is a holding company of Alaska Airlines Inc. (NYSE:ALK) and Horizon Air Industries Inc. (Horizon). The Company operates Alaska Airlines and Horizon Air airlines, which together with its partner regional airlines serve approximately 100 cities through a network in Alaska, the Lower 48, Hawaii, Canada and Mexico. The Company operates in three segments: Alaska Mainline, Alaska Regional and Horizon. Alaska Mainline is the Boeing 737 part of Alaska’s business. Alaska Regional is Alaska’s shorter distance network. Horizon operates regional aircraft. In 2014, the Company carried approximately 29 million passengers. Alaska operates a fleet of passenger jets (mainline) and contracts with Horizon SkyWest Airlines Inc. (SkyWest) and Peninsula Airways, Inc. (PenAir) for regional capacity under which Alaska receives all passenger revenue from those flights. Horizon operates a fleet of turboprop aircraft and sells all of its capacity to Alaska.

12 Month Chart for NYSE:ALK

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