Air Canada (TSE:AC) Shares Up 11.6% – Time to Buy?

Air Canada (TSE:AC) shot up 11.6% during trading on Friday . The stock traded as high as C$17.33 and last traded at C$17.08. 4,501,571 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, an increase of 33% from the average session volume of 3,375,003 shares. The stock had previously closed at C$15.30.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have recently commented on AC. BMO Capital Markets lowered their price target on Air Canada from C$31.00 to C$29.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, April 3rd. National Bankshares reduced their price target on shares of Air Canada from C$27.00 to C$23.00 in a research report on Thursday, April 10th. Jefferies Financial Group cut shares of Air Canada from a “hold” rating to an “underperform” rating and lowered their price objective for the company from C$18.00 to C$12.00 in a research report on Tuesday, April 1st. Raymond James reduced their target price on Air Canada from C$28.00 to C$24.00 in a report on Tuesday, May 6th. Finally, CIBC lowered their price target on Air Canada from C$24.00 to C$21.00 in a report on Thursday, April 10th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating, ten have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Air Canada has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of C$23.50.

Air Canada Price Performance

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 400.00, a current ratio of 0.92 and a quick ratio of 1.06. The stock has a market capitalization of C$6.26 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 2.47, a PEG ratio of 0.02 and a beta of 2.39. The business’s fifty day moving average price is C$14.61 and its 200-day moving average price is C$18.95.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Senior Officer Craig Landry purchased 13,644 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 28th. The stock was bought at an average price of C$16.75 per share, for a total transaction of C$228,546.55. Also, Director Vagn Sorensen acquired 11,440 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 19th. The shares were acquired at an average cost of C$17.40 per share, for a total transaction of C$199,057.14. Over the last quarter, insiders have acquired 32,993 shares of company stock valued at $538,251. Insiders own 0.14% of the company’s stock.

About Air Canada

Air Canada provides domestic, U.S. transborder, and international airline services. The company provides scheduled passenger services under the Air Canada Vacations and Air Canada Rouge brand names in the Canadian market, the Canada-U.S. transborder market, and in the international market to and from Canada, as well as through capacity purchase agreements on other regional carriers.