JetBlue Airways (NASDAQ:JBLU) Stock Price Up 5.4% – What’s Next?

Shares of JetBlue Airways Co. (NASDAQ:JBLU) shot up 5.4% during mid-day trading on Thursday . The stock traded as high as $3.63 and last traded at $3.62. 11,661,543 shares traded hands during trading, a decline of 54% from the average session volume of 25,105,080 shares. The stock had previously closed at $3.43.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Bank of America dropped their price target on shares of JetBlue Airways from $5.25 to $4.25 and set an “underperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, April 3rd. Citigroup reduced their price target on shares of JetBlue Airways from $7.15 to $4.25 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, April 11th. Seaport Res Ptn cut JetBlue Airways from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 28th. Raymond James raised JetBlue Airways from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $5.00 price target on the stock in a research note on Monday, April 7th. Finally, Barclays cut their price objective on JetBlue Airways from $7.00 to $4.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, April 8th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and one has given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $5.17.

JetBlue Airways Price Performance

The firm has a market capitalization of $1.30 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -1.57 and a beta of 1.69. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $5.43 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $6.40. The company has a current ratio of 1.10, a quick ratio of 1.18 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.08.

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, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.42) by $0.21. JetBlue Airways had a negative return on equity of 9.31% and a negative net margin of 8.57%. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted ($0.19) earnings per share. Equities research analysts expect that JetBlue Airways Co. will post -0.69 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity

In related news, CFO Ursula L. Hurley sold 15,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $7.50, for a total value of $112,500.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 41,833 shares in the company, valued at $313,747.50. This represents a 26.39 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director Nik Mittal acquired 100,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 4th. The stock was acquired at an average price of $6.14 per share, for a total transaction of $614,000.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the director now owns 116,443 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $714,960.02. This trade represents a 608.16 % increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Company insiders own 1.18% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of JetBlue Airways

A number of hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in JBLU. Entropy Technologies LP purchased a new position in JetBlue Airways in the 4th quarter valued at $787,000. FMR LLC raised its holdings in JetBlue Airways by 14,595.7% during the fourth quarter. FMR LLC now owns 16,599,279 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $130,470,000 after purchasing an additional 16,486,326 shares in the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new stake in JetBlue Airways in the fourth quarter valued at about $1,796,000. Intech Investment Management LLC boosted its holdings in JetBlue Airways by 71.7% in the 4th quarter. Intech Investment Management LLC now owns 119,072 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $936,000 after purchasing an additional 49,712 shares in the last quarter. Finally, New Age Alpha Advisors LLC acquired a new position in JetBlue Airways during the 4th quarter worth approximately $432,000. 83.71% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.