Short Interest in Afya Limited (NASDAQ:AFYA) Rises By 8.8%

Afya Limited (NASDAQ:AFYA) was the target of a significant increase in short interest in January. As of January 15th, there was short interest totalling 1,240,000 shares, an increase of 8.8% from the December 31st total of 1,140,000 shares. Approximately 9.2% of the company’s stock are short sold. Based on an average trading volume of 119,500 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 10.4 days.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Afya

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in AFYA. Millennium Management LLC grew its stake in Afya by 45.0% in the 2nd quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 291,164 shares of the company’s stock valued at $5,139,000 after buying an additional 90,383 shares in the last quarter. Point72 Asset Management L.P. bought a new stake in Afya during the third quarter valued at $842,000. Erste Asset Management GmbH bought a new position in Afya in the 3rd quarter worth about $822,000. State Street Corp boosted its position in shares of Afya by 118.2% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 73,098 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,248,000 after acquiring an additional 39,592 shares during the last quarter. Finally, PDT Partners LLC bought a new position in shares of Afya in the third quarter worth approximately $481,000. 88.02% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Afya Stock Performance

Shares of AFYA stock opened at $16.15 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.51, a quick ratio of 1.60 and a current ratio of 1.60. The firm has a market cap of $1.51 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.02, a P/E/G ratio of 0.27 and a beta of 0.89. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $15.82 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $16.63. Afya has a 52 week low of $14.52 and a 52 week high of $22.24.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have weighed in on AFYA. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price objective on shares of Afya from $25.00 to $20.50 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, January 17th. Citigroup reissued a “sell” rating and set a $15.00 price objective (down from $18.00) on shares of Afya in a report on Friday. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group began coverage on Afya in a report on Tuesday, December 3rd. They set a “sell” rating and a $16.00 price target for the company. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and three have assigned a hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $18.00.

About Afya

Afya Limited, through its subsidiaries, operates as a medical education group in Brazil. The company operates through three segments: Undergrad, Continuing Education, and Digital Services. It offers educational products and services, including medical schools, medical residency preparatory courses, graduate courses, and other programs to lifelong medical learners enrolled across its distribution network, as well as to third-party medical schools.