** Barclays downgrades rating on Frontier Airlines' parent Frontier Group ULCC.O to "underweight" from "overweight", cuts PT to $4 from $6

** New PT shows a downside of nearly 10% from the stock's last close

** Shares of the company down more than 6% at $4.2 premarket, in line with broader airline declines amid the escalating conflict in the Middle East

** Barclays says co's steep drop in sale-leaseback gains and weaker aircraft utilization highlight mounting capital needs on an already heavily leveraged balance sheet

** Further says Frontier's strategy to boost off-peak flying is unlikely to deliver meaningful margin improvement

** Nine of 12 brokerages rate the stock "hold" and three "sell"; their median PT is $5 - data compiled by LSEG

** As of last close, stock had fallen 5.7% YTD

(Reporting by Apratim Sarkar in Bengaluru)

((Apratim.Sarkar@thomsonreuters.com))