Investors Purchase Large Volume of Call Options on JetBlue Airways (NASDAQ:JBLU)

JetBlue Airways Co. (NASDAQ:JBLU) was the target of unusually large options trading on Tuesday. Investors bought 58,522 call options on the company. This is an increase of 149% compared to the typical daily volume of 23,496 call options.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have recently weighed in on JBLU. UBS Group cut their price objective on JetBlue Airways from $5.50 to $5.00 and set a “sell” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, January 29th. Morgan Stanley reiterated an “equal weight” rating and issued a $8.00 price objective on shares of JetBlue Airways in a research report on Wednesday, December 11th. Susquehanna dropped their price target on JetBlue Airways from $8.00 to $6.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, February 4th. The Goldman Sachs Group restated a “sell” rating and set a $5.50 price target on shares of JetBlue Airways in a research report on Friday, November 15th. Finally, Barclays lifted their price target on JetBlue Airways from $5.00 to $7.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 14th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating and one has given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, JetBlue Airways has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $6.51.

JetBlue Airways Stock Up 14.4 %

Shares of NASDAQ:JBLU opened at $7.76 on Wednesday. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $7.25 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $6.46. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.69 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -3.31 and a beta of 1.83. JetBlue Airways has a 12-month low of $4.49 and a 12-month high of $8.31. The company has a current ratio of 1.21, a quick ratio of 1.18 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.98.

JetBlue Airways (NASDAQ:JBLU) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, January 28th. The transportation company reported ($0.21) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.42) by $0.21. JetBlue Airways had a negative return on equity of 9.29% and a negative net margin of 8.57%. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned ($0.19) earnings per share. On average, research analysts anticipate that JetBlue Airways will post -0.58 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, Director Nik Mittal purchased 100,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 4th. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $6.14 per share, with a total value of $614,000.00. Following the purchase, the director now directly owns 116,443 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $714,960.02. This trade represents a 608.16 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Insiders own 1.18% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Bogart Wealth LLC raised its stake in shares of JetBlue Airways by 1,951.2% in the third quarter. Bogart Wealth LLC now owns 4,205 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $28,000 after purchasing an additional 4,000 shares during the last quarter. Harvest Fund Management Co. Ltd purchased a new position in shares of JetBlue Airways in the third quarter worth $28,000. Blue Trust Inc. raised its stake in shares of JetBlue Airways by 130.8% in the fourth quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 4,478 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $35,000 after purchasing an additional 2,538 shares during the last quarter. C2P Capital Advisory Group LLC d.b.a. Prosperity Capital Advisors purchased a new position in shares of JetBlue Airways in the fourth quarter worth $40,000. Finally, R Squared Ltd purchased a new position in shares of JetBlue Airways in the fourth quarter worth $58,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 83.71% of the company’s stock.

About JetBlue Airways

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.