JetBlue Airways (NASDAQ:JBLU) Trading Down 4.8% – What’s Next?

Shares of JetBlue Airways Co. (NASDAQ:JBLU) fell 4.8% during mid-day trading on Wednesday . The company traded as low as $5.58 and last traded at $5.48. 2,415,440 shares were traded during trading, a decline of 90% from the average session volume of 23,496,020 shares. The stock had previously closed at $5.75.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have issued reports on JBLU shares. Barclays boosted their price target on shares of JetBlue Airways from $5.00 to $7.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a report on Thursday, November 14th. Citigroup boosted their target price on shares of JetBlue Airways from $6.85 to $7.60 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 18th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft downgraded shares of JetBlue Airways from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and cut their target price for the company from $9.00 to $7.00 in a research report on Tuesday, March 4th. Seaport Res Ptn downgraded shares of JetBlue Airways from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 28th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group restated a “sell” rating and set a $5.50 target price on shares of JetBlue Airways in a research report on Friday, November 15th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and eight have issued a hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, JetBlue Airways has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $6.33.

JetBlue Airways Stock Down 3.2 %

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.08, a quick ratio of 1.18 and a current ratio of 1.10. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.96 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -2.35 and a beta of 1.80. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $6.96 and its 200 day simple moving average is $6.62.

JetBlue Airways (NASDAQ:JBLU) last announced 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 9.31%. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted ($0.19) EPS. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that JetBlue Airways Co. will post -0.69 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director Nik Mittal bought 100,000 shares of JetBlue Airways stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 4th. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $6.14 per share, for a total transaction of $614,000.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director now directly owns 116,443 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $714,960.02. The trade was a 608.16 % increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CFO Ursula L. Hurley sold 15,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $7.50, for a total value of $112,500.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 41,833 shares in the company, valued at $313,747.50. The trade was 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 currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of JetBlue Airways

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of JBLU. Entropy Technologies LP bought a new stake in shares of JetBlue Airways during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $787,000. Maverick Capital Ltd. grew its holdings in JetBlue Airways by 136.1% during the third quarter. Maverick Capital Ltd. now owns 245,657 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $1,612,000 after purchasing an additional 141,605 shares during the period. Quantbot Technologies LP grew its holdings in JetBlue Airways by 56.7% during the third quarter. Quantbot Technologies LP now owns 922,925 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $6,054,000 after purchasing an additional 334,032 shares during the period. Empowered Funds LLC boosted its stake in shares of JetBlue Airways by 8.3% in the fourth quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 1,396,530 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $10,977,000 after acquiring an additional 107,293 shares during the period. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its stake in shares of JetBlue Airways by 13.3% in the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 5,661,742 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $37,141,000 after acquiring an additional 663,865 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 83.71% of the company’s stock.

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.