Controladora Vuela Compañía de Aviación, S.A.B. de C.V. (NYSE:VLRS) Short Interest Up 75.9% in March

Controladora Vuela Compañía de Aviación, S.A.B. de C.V. (NYSE:VLRS) was the target of a large increase in short interest during the month of March. As of March 15th, there was short interest totalling 1,610,000 shares, an increase of 75.9% from the February 28th total of 915,300 shares. Currently, 1.7% of the company’s shares are short sold. Based on an average daily volume of 646,200 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 2.5 days.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Controladora Vuela Compañía de Aviación

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Stifel Financial Corp lifted its stake in Controladora Vuela Compañía de Aviación by 9.0% in the third quarter. Stifel Financial Corp now owns 38,092 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $241,000 after acquiring an additional 3,135 shares during the last quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets grew its stake in shares of Controladora Vuela Compañía de Aviación by 157.9% during the third quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 84,252 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $533,000 after purchasing an additional 51,580 shares in the last quarter. Centiva Capital LP purchased a new position in Controladora Vuela Compañía de Aviación in the third quarter valued at $320,000. Victory Capital Management Inc. raised its stake in Controladora Vuela Compañía de Aviación by 146.0% in the fourth quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 184,952 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $1,376,000 after buying an additional 109,776 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Segall Bryant & Hamill LLC purchased a new stake in Controladora Vuela Compañía de Aviación during the 4th quarter worth about $272,000. 53.32% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Controladora Vuela Compañía de Aviación Price Performance

Controladora Vuela Compañía de Aviación stock opened at $5.37 on Monday. The company’s 50 day moving average is $7.08 and its two-hundred day moving average is $7.30. The firm has a market cap of $625.55 million, a PE ratio of 3.23 and a beta of 2.48. The company has a quick ratio of 0.69, a current ratio of 0.70 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.09. Controladora Vuela Compañía de Aviación has a 52-week low of $5.15 and a 52-week high of $9.57.

Controladora Vuela Compañía de Aviación (NYSE:VLRS) last released its earnings results on Monday, February 24th. The transportation company reported $0.39 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.55 by ($0.16). Controladora Vuela Compañía de Aviación had a net margin of 5.99% and a return on equity of 71.50%. The company had revenue of $835.00 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $709.48 million. On average, research analysts expect that Controladora Vuela Compañía de Aviación will post 1.21 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on VLRS. Itau BBA Securities started coverage on Controladora Vuela Compañía de Aviación in a research report on Wednesday, February 12th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $12.00 price objective for the company. Citigroup reduced their price target on shares of Controladora Vuela Compañía de Aviación from $13.00 to $11.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, March 5th. StockNews.com cut shares of Controladora Vuela Compañía de Aviación from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 26th. Finally, UBS Group boosted their target price on Controladora Vuela Compañía de Aviación from $10.00 to $14.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th. One analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $12.88.

About Controladora Vuela Compañía de Aviación

Controladora Vuela Compañía de Aviación, SAB. de C.V., through its subsidiary, Concesionaria Vuela Compañía de Aviación, SAP.I. de C.V., provides air transportation services for passengers, cargo, and mail in Mexico and internationally. The company operates approximately 590 daily flights on routes connecting 43 cities in Mexico, 22 cities in the United States, 4 cities in Central America, and 2 cities in South America.