** 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))