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

JetBlue Airways Co. (NASDAQ:JBLU) saw unusually large options trading activity on Tuesday. Stock investors bought 58,522 call options on the company. This is an increase of 149% compared to the average volume of 23,496 call options.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Nik Mittal bought 100,000 shares of JetBlue Airways stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 4th. The shares were bought at an average cost of $6.14 per share, with a total value 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 trade represents a 608.16 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. 1.18% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On JetBlue Airways

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Entropy Technologies LP purchased a new stake in shares of JetBlue Airways during the fourth quarter worth about $787,000. Maverick Capital Ltd. grew its holdings in shares of JetBlue Airways by 136.1% during the third quarter. Maverick Capital Ltd. now owns 245,657 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $1,612,000 after buying an additional 141,605 shares in the last quarter. Quantbot Technologies LP grew its holdings in shares of JetBlue Airways by 56.7% during the third quarter. Quantbot Technologies LP now owns 922,925 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $6,054,000 after buying an additional 334,032 shares in the last quarter. Empowered Funds LLC grew its holdings in shares of JetBlue Airways by 8.3% during the fourth quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 1,396,530 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $10,977,000 after buying an additional 107,293 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Jade Capital Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of JetBlue Airways by 800.0% during the third quarter. Jade Capital Advisors LLC now owns 450,000 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $2,952,000 after buying an additional 400,000 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 83.71% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts have commented on JBLU shares. Citigroup lifted their target price 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. Morgan Stanley reissued an “equal weight” rating and issued a $8.00 price target on shares of JetBlue Airways in a research note on Wednesday, December 11th. Susquehanna reduced their price target 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, February 4th. UBS Group reduced their price target 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, StockNews.com raised shares of JetBlue Airways to a “sell” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 7th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and one has given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, JetBlue Airways presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $6.51.

JetBlue Airways Stock Performance

JetBlue Airways stock traded up $0.98 during trading hours on Tuesday, reaching $7.76. 33,796,328 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 24,200,709. JetBlue Airways has a 52-week low of $4.49 and a 52-week high of $8.31. The stock has a market cap of $2.69 billion, a P/E ratio of -3.31 and a beta of 1.83. 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 firm’s 50 day moving average is $7.25 and its 200 day moving average is $6.46.

JetBlue Airways (NASDAQ:JBLU) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, January 28th. The transportation company reported ($0.21) EPS for the quarter, topping 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 9.29%. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted ($0.19) earnings per share. Analysts predict that JetBlue Airways will post -0.58 EPS for the current fiscal year.

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.