American Airlines shares close lower on Wednesday, company to provide tax bill bonus to employees

According to a statement by American Airlines Group (AAL) earlier this week, its employees are to receive a $1 000 bonus following the recent US tax bill.

American Airlines shares closed lower for the fourth time in the past nine trading sessions on Wednesday. It has also been the steepest daily loss since December 12th. The stock went down 1.23% ($0.65) to $52.34, with the intraday high and the intraday low being at $52.76 and $52.06 respectively.

In the week ended on December 31st the shares of the transportation company lost 1.06% of their market value compared to a week ago, which marked the first drop out of seven weeks.

The stock has pared its advance to 0.60% so far during the current month, following a 3.05% surge in December. The latter has been a second consecutive month of gains.

For the entire past year, the shares of the NASDAQ-listed carrier rose 11.44% following another 10.25% surge in 2016.

According to Reuters, citing an internal memo by American Airlines, the bonus is to be distributed to every team member at the companys mainline and fully owned regional carriers.

Totaling at about $130 million, the distributions are expected to be made during the first three months of 2018 and will exclude American Airlines officers.

The airline is another entity to join a group of companies including Boeing, AT&T and Wells Fargo, which have pledged to pay bonuses or to expand investment in staff training following the largest overhaul of the United States tax system in three decades. The bill envisages a cut in the corporate tax rate from 35% to 21%.

According to CNN Money, the 19 analysts, offering 12-month forecasts regarding American Airlines Group’s stock price, have a median target of $56.00, with a high estimate of $90.00 and a low estimate of $42.00. The median estimate is a 6.99% surge compared to the closing price of $52.34 on January 3rd.

The same media also reported that 9 out of 20 surveyed investment analysts had rated American Airlines Group’s stock as “Buy”, while 8 – as “Hold”.

Daily and Weekly Pivot Levels

With the help of the Camarilla calculation method, today’s levels of importance for the American Airlines stock are presented as follows:

R1 – $52.40
R2 – $52.47
R3 (Range Resistance – Sell) – $52.53
R4 (Long Breakout) – $52.73
R5 (Breakout Target 1) – $52.95
R6 (Breakout Target 2) – $53.04

S1 – $52.28
S2 – $52.21
S3 (Range Support – Buy) – $52.15
S4 (Short Breakout) – $51.96
S5 (Breakout Target 1) – $51.73
S6 (Breakout Target 2) – $51.64

By using the traditional method of calculation, the weekly levels of importance for American Airlines Group (AAL) are presented as follows:

Central Pivot Point – $52.42
R1 – $52.83
R2 – $53.63
R3 – $54.04
R4 – $54.45

S1 – $51.62
S2 – $51.21
S3 – $50.41
S4 – $49.61