JetBlue Airways (NASDAQ:JBLU) Trading Down 9.2% on Analyst Downgrade

JetBlue Airways Co. (NASDAQ:JBLU) shares traded down 9.2% during mid-day trading on Tuesday after Barclays lowered their price target on the stock from $7.00 to $4.00. Barclays currently has an underweight rating on the stock. JetBlue Airways traded as low as $3.65 and last traded at $3.68. 20,585,367 shares were traded during trading, an increase of 15% from the average session volume of 17,862,563 shares. The stock had previously closed at $4.05.

A number of other equities research analysts have also recently issued reports on the company. Raymond James raised JetBlue Airways from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $5.00 target price for the company in a research report on Monday. Susquehanna decreased their price objective on shares of JetBlue Airways from $6.00 to $4.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Monday. UBS Group lowered their target price on shares of JetBlue Airways from $5.00 to $3.00 and set a “sell” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday. Citigroup boosted their target price on shares of JetBlue Airways from $6.85 to $7.60 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 18th. Finally, Morgan Stanley reaffirmed an “equal weight” rating and issued a $8.00 price target on shares of JetBlue Airways in a research report on Wednesday, December 11th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating and one has assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $5.45.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other JetBlue Airways news, Director Nik Mittal acquired 100,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 4th. The stock was bought at an average price of $6.14 per share, for a total transaction of $614,000.00. Following the purchase, the director now owns 116,443 shares in the company, valued at $714,960.02. This represents a 608.16 % increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, CFO Ursula L. Hurley sold 15,000 shares of JetBlue Airways stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $7.50, for a total transaction of $112,500.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 41,833 shares in the company, valued at approximately $313,747.50. This trade represents a 26.39 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 1.18% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Blue Trust Inc. boosted its holdings in JetBlue Airways by 130.8% during the fourth quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 4,478 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $35,000 after purchasing an additional 2,538 shares in the last quarter. C2P Capital Advisory Group LLC d.b.a. Prosperity Capital Advisors bought a new position in shares of JetBlue Airways during the 4th quarter worth approximately $40,000. Bogart Wealth LLC boosted its stake in JetBlue Airways by 67.8% in the 4th quarter. Bogart Wealth LLC now owns 7,055 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $55,000 after buying an additional 2,850 shares in the last quarter. R Squared Ltd bought a new stake in JetBlue Airways in the fourth quarter valued at $58,000. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC raised its stake in JetBlue Airways by 85.8% during the fourth quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 8,353 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $66,000 after acquiring an additional 3,857 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 83.71% of the company’s stock.

JetBlue Airways Stock Performance

The company has a quick ratio of 1.18, a current ratio of 1.10 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.08. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $5.89 and a 200-day simple moving average of $6.56. The company has a market capitalization of $1.28 billion, a P/E ratio of -1.54 and a beta of 1.69.

JetBlue Airways (NASDAQ:JBLU) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, January 28th. The transportation company reported ($0.21) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($0.42) by $0.21. JetBlue Airways had a negative net margin of 8.57% and a negative return on equity of 9.31%. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted ($0.19) earnings per share. Equities analysts forecast that JetBlue Airways Co. will post -0.69 EPS for the current year.

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.