Traders Buy High Volume of Air Transport Services Group Call Options (NASDAQ:ATSG)

Air Transport Services Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:ATSG) was the recipient of unusually large options trading activity on Monday. Traders purchased 2,224 call options on the stock. This is an increase of 572% compared to the typical daily volume of 331 call options.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Air Transport Services Group

A number of large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in ATSG. Pullen Investment Management LLC raised its stake in Air Transport Services Group by 17.2% in the third quarter. Pullen Investment Management LLC now owns 21,458 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $347,000 after purchasing an additional 3,155 shares in the last quarter. Cetera Trust Company N.A raised its position in shares of Air Transport Services Group by 14.2% in the 3rd quarter. Cetera Trust Company N.A now owns 10,910 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $177,000 after buying an additional 1,355 shares in the last quarter. Blue Trust Inc. raised its position in shares of Air Transport Services Group by 1,320.1% in the 3rd quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 4,871 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $79,000 after buying an additional 4,528 shares in the last quarter. Creative Planning lifted its holdings in shares of Air Transport Services Group by 33.2% during the 3rd quarter. Creative Planning now owns 13,384 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $217,000 after acquiring an additional 3,338 shares during the period. Finally, Oliver Luxxe Assets LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Air Transport Services Group during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $1,896,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 91.81% of the company’s stock.

Air Transport Services Group Stock Performance

ATSG stock traded up $0.07 during trading hours on Tuesday, hitting $17.27. 31,365 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 515,549. Air Transport Services Group has a 12 month low of $11.62 and a 12 month high of $20.79. The company has a current ratio of 0.74, a quick ratio of 0.62 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.08. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.14 billion, a P/E ratio of 27.30 and a beta of 0.82. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $15.72 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $14.55.

Air Transport Services Group (NASDAQ:ATSG) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 8th. The transportation company reported $0.19 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.16 by $0.03. Air Transport Services Group had a net margin of 0.90% and a return on equity of 4.24%. The business had revenue of $488.41 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $513.67 million. During the same period last year, the firm earned $0.57 earnings per share. Air Transport Services Group’s revenue for the quarter was down 7.7% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts forecast that Air Transport Services Group will post 0.84 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages recently issued reports on ATSG. Truist Financial raised their target price on shares of Air Transport Services Group from $14.00 to $15.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, August 12th. Stifel Nicolaus upped their price target on shares of Air Transport Services Group from $23.00 to $25.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, August 12th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Air Transport Services Group currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $18.25.

About Air Transport Services Group

Air Transport Services Group, Inc, together with its subsidiaries, provides aircraft leasing, and air cargo transportation and related services in the United States and internationally. It operates in two segments, Cargo Aircraft Management Inc (CAM) and ACMI Services. The company offers aircraft, flight crews, aircraft hull and liability insurance, and aviation fuel services; and aircraft maintenance and modification services, including airframe modification and heavy maintenance, component repairs, engineering services, and aircraft line maintenance.