LONDON, UK / ACCESSWIRE / May 18, 2018 / Active-Investors has a free review on Alaska Air Group, Inc. (NYSE: ALK) following the Company's announcement that it will begin trading ex-dividend on May 21, 2018. To capture the dividend payout, investors must purchase the stock a day prior to the ex-dividend date (excluding weekend) that is by latest at the end of the trading session on May 18, 2018. Active-Investors has initiated due-diligence on this dividend stock. Register with us for more free research including the one on ALK:

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Dividend Declared

On May 04, 2018, Alaska Air Board of Directors declared a regular quarterly cash dividend of $0.32 per share. The dividend will be paid on June 07, 2018, to all shareholders of record as of May 22, 2018. The Company's dividends are financed from operating cash flow and cash on hand.

Alaska Air's indicated dividend represents a yield of 2.18%, which is substantially higher than the average dividend yield of 2.04% for the Services sector. The Company has raised dividend for four years in a row.

Dividend Insights

Alaska Air has a dividend payout ratio of 24.2%, which means that the Company spends approximately $0.24 for dividend distribution out of every $1.00 earned. The dividend payout ratio reflects how much amount a company is returning to shareholders versus how much money it is keeping on hand to reinvest in growth, to pay off debt, and/or to add to its cash reserves.

According to analysts' estimates, Alaska Air is forecasted to report earnings of $7.20 per share for the next year, more than five times above the Company's annualized dividend of $1.28 per share.

During Q1 2018, Alaska Air generated approximately $310 million of operating cash flow, resulting in approximately $75 million of free cash flow. The Company held $1.5 billion in unrestricted cash and marketable securities as of March 31, 2018. In the reported quarter, Alaska Air paid a $0.32 per-share quarterly cash dividend in Q1 2018, representing a 7% increase over the dividend paid in Q1 2017 and repurchased a total of 185,661 shares of common stock for approximately $12 million. The Company's strong financial position indicates its ability to absorb any fluctuations in earnings and cash flow and to sustain the dividend distribution for a long period.

Recent Development for Alaska Air

On May 15, 2018, Alaska Air reported April 2018 operational results on a consolidated basis for its mainline operations flown by subsidiaries Alaska Airlines Inc. (Alaska) and Virgin America Inc. (Virgin America), and for its regional flying operated by subsidiary Horizon Air Industries Inc. (Horizon) and third-party regional carriers SkyWest Airlines and Peninsula Airlines.

On a combined basis for all operations, Air Group reported a 5.8% growth in traffic on an 8.7% rise increase in capacity compared to April 2017. The segment's load factor fell 2.3 points to 84.3%. Alaska Air's Mainline reported a 4.4% growth in traffic on a 7.4% gain in capacity compared to April 2017. The segment's load factor decreased 2.4 points to 84.8%. Mainline also reported 83.4% of its flights arrived on time in April 2018, compared to 77.1% reported in April 2017

Alaska Air's Regional traffic surged 23.4% on a 23.8% gain in capacity compared to April 2017. The segment's load factor decreased 0.3 points to 79.4%.

Stock Performance Snapshot

May 17, 2018 - At Thursday's closing bell, Alaska Air Group's stock marginally fell 0.85%, ending the trading session at $58.60.

Volume traded for the day: 1.46 million shares.

After yesterday's close, Alaska Air Group's market cap was at $7.21 billion.

Price to Earnings (P/E) ratio was at 11.03.

The stock has a dividend yield of 2.18%.

The stock is part of the Services sector, categorized under the Regional Airlines industry.

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