JetBlue Airways (NASDAQ:JBLU) Shares Gap Up – Here’s What Happened

Shares of JetBlue Airways Co. (NASDAQ:JBLU) gapped up prior to trading on Wednesday . The stock had previously closed at $6.32, but opened at $6.65. JetBlue Airways shares last traded at $7.23, with a volume of 3,324,348 shares.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts recently issued reports on JBLU shares. Barclays lifted their price objective on JetBlue Airways from $5.00 to $7.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a report on Thursday. Citigroup lifted their price objective on JetBlue Airways from $6.00 to $7.75 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 22nd. StockNews.com upgraded JetBlue Airways to a “sell” rating in a report on Thursday, November 7th. Bank of America upgraded JetBlue Airways from an “underperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and lifted their price objective for the stock from $3.00 to $6.00 in a report on Monday, September 9th. Finally, Susquehanna lifted their price objective on JetBlue Airways from $6.00 to $7.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 9th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating and one has issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $6.53.

JetBlue Airways Price Performance

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.98, a quick ratio of 1.18 and a current ratio of 1.21. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $6.40 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $5.89. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.47 billion, a PE ratio of -2.81 and a beta of 1.92.

JetBlue Airways (NASDAQ:JBLU) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The transportation company reported ($0.16) EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($0.26) by $0.10. The firm had revenue of $2.37 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.36 billion. JetBlue Airways had a negative net margin of 9.17% and a negative return on equity of 8.35%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up .5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned ($0.39) EPS. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that JetBlue Airways Co. will post -0.94 EPS for the current year.

Institutional Trading of JetBlue Airways

Several institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in shares of JetBlue Airways by 0.9% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 37,376,886 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $277,336,000 after buying an additional 317,263 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its position in shares of JetBlue Airways by 3.0% during the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 17,878,115 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $108,875,000 after buying an additional 521,767 shares during the period. Donald Smith & CO. Inc. raised its position in shares of JetBlue Airways by 6.5% during the 1st quarter. Donald Smith & CO. Inc. now owns 13,256,094 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $98,360,000 after buying an additional 805,404 shares during the period. American Century Companies Inc. raised its position in shares of JetBlue Airways by 16.4% during the 2nd quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 8,041,025 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $48,970,000 after buying an additional 1,135,217 shares during the period. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its position in JetBlue Airways by 13.3% in the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 5,661,742 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $37,141,000 after purchasing an additional 663,865 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 83.71% of the company’s stock.

JetBlue Airways Company Profile

JetBlue Airways Corporation provides air transportation services. The company operates a fleet of Airbus A321, Airbus A220, Airbus A321neo, Airbus A320 Restyled, Airbus A320, Airbus A321 with Mint, Airbus A321neo with Mint, Airbus A321neoLR with Mint, and Embraer E190 aircraft. It also serves 100 destinations across the United States, the Caribbean and Latin America, Canada, and Europe.