JetBlue Airways Co. (NASDAQ:JBLU) Receives $5.45 Average PT from Brokerages

JetBlue Airways Co. (NASDAQ:JBLU) has been assigned an average recommendation of “Reduce” from the thirteen brokerages that are covering the stock, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell recommendation, eight have assigned a hold recommendation and one has given a buy recommendation to the company. The average 1-year price target among brokers that have covered the stock in the last year is $5.17.

JBLU has been the subject of several recent research reports. Raymond James raised JetBlue Airways from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $5.00 target price for the company in a report on Monday, April 7th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lowered JetBlue Airways from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and dropped their target price for the stock from $9.00 to $7.00 in a research report on Tuesday, March 4th. Barclays cut their target price on JetBlue Airways from $7.00 to $4.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, April 8th. UBS Group lowered their price target on shares of JetBlue Airways from $5.00 to $3.00 and set a “sell” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, April 7th. Finally, 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.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CFO Ursula L. Hurley sold 15,000 shares of JetBlue Airways stock in a transaction 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 directly owns 41,833 shares in the company, valued at $313,747.50. The trade was a 26.39 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, Director Nik Mittal bought 100,000 shares of JetBlue Airways stock in a transaction dated 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 acquisition, the director now owns 116,443 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $714,960.02. The trade was a 608.16 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. 1.18% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On JetBlue Airways

A number of institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of JBLU. FMR LLC boosted its holdings in shares of JetBlue Airways by 14,595.7% in the fourth quarter. FMR LLC now owns 16,599,279 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $130,470,000 after buying an additional 16,486,326 shares during the period. Renaissance Technologies LLC lifted its position in shares of JetBlue Airways by 491.7% in the 4th quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 4,274,457 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $33,597,000 after acquiring an additional 3,552,057 shares in the last quarter. Nomura Holdings Inc. boosted its stake in JetBlue Airways by 3,729.9% in the 4th quarter. Nomura Holdings Inc. now owns 3,436,202 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $27,009,000 after purchasing an additional 3,346,482 shares during the period. JPMorgan Chase & Co. grew 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 worth $36,170,000 after purchasing an additional 2,584,350 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Voloridge Investment Management LLC grew its position in JetBlue Airways by 60.8% during the 4th quarter. Voloridge Investment Management LLC now owns 5,203,155 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $40,897,000 after purchasing an additional 1,968,343 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 83.71% of the company’s stock.

JetBlue Airways Stock Performance

JBLU stock opened at $3.56 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $1.26 billion, a P/E ratio of -1.52 and a beta of 1.69. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $5.60 and its 200 day simple moving average is $6.46. 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 has a 12-month low of $3.47 and a 12-month high of $8.31.

JetBlue Airways (NASDAQ:JBLU) last posted 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 net margin of 8.57% and a negative return on equity of 9.31%. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted ($0.19) EPS. As a group, equities research analysts predict that JetBlue Airways will post -0.69 EPS for the current year.

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.