Insider Buying: JetBlue Airways Co. (NASDAQ:JBLU) Director Acquires 100,000 Shares of Stock

JetBlue Airways Co. (NASDAQ:JBLU) Director Nik Mittal acquired 100,000 shares of JetBlue Airways stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 4th. The shares were purchased 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 directly owns 116,443 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $714,960.02. This represents a 608.16 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link.

JetBlue Airways Stock Up 2.6 %

JBLU stock opened at $6.67 on Friday. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $7.22 and a 200-day moving average price of $6.43. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.31 billion, a P/E ratio of -2.85 and a beta of 1.83. JetBlue Airways Co. 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 issued 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 net margin of 8.57% and a negative return on equity of 9.29%. During the same period last year, the firm posted ($0.19) earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that JetBlue Airways Co. will post -0.58 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts have issued reports on JBLU shares. Susquehanna reduced their price objective on shares of JetBlue Airways from $8.00 to $6.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday. Seaport Res Ptn downgraded shares of JetBlue Airways from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 28th. Bank of America reiterated an “underperform” rating and set a $6.50 price objective on shares of JetBlue Airways in a research note on Friday, January 17th. UBS Group reduced their price objective on shares of JetBlue Airways from $5.50 to $5.00 and set a “sell” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, January 29th. Finally, Citigroup increased their price objective on shares of JetBlue Airways from $6.85 to $7.60 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 18th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and one has issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, JetBlue Airways currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $6.51.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its holdings in JetBlue Airways by 18.8% in the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 6,725,671 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $52,864,000 after buying an additional 1,063,929 shares during the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its position in JetBlue Airways by 88.2% during the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 5,513,751 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $36,170,000 after purchasing an additional 2,584,350 shares during the period. SG Americas Securities LLC increased its position in JetBlue Airways by 5,648.9% during the 4th quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 1,470,062 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $11,555,000 after purchasing an additional 1,444,491 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc. increased its position in JetBlue Airways by 2.9% during the 4th quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 1,447,596 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $11,378,000 after purchasing an additional 40,452 shares during the period. Finally, Empowered Funds LLC increased its position in JetBlue Airways by 8.3% during the 4th quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 1,396,530 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $10,977,000 after purchasing an additional 107,293 shares during the period. 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.