Afya (NASDAQ:AFYA) Cut to Strong Sell at Zacks Research

Afya (NASDAQ:AFYA) was downgraded by equities research analysts at Zacks Research from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a research note issued to investors on Tuesday, Zacks reports.

Other research analysts have also issued research reports about the company. Morgan Stanley raised Afya from an “underweight” rating to a “cautious” rating and set a $12.60 price objective for the company in a research report on Thursday. Bank of America raised Afya from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $16.00 target price on the stock in a report on Thursday, October 29th. Citigroup raised Afya from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and cut their target price for the stock from $16.00 to $12.00 in a research note on Tuesday. Weiss Ratings downgraded Afya from a “hold (c-)” rating to a “sell (d+)” rating in a report on Thursday, October 29th. Finally, Wall Street Zen downgraded Afya from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, October 31st. Four analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, two have given a Hold rating and three have given a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $15.18.

Afya Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ AFYA opened at $10.50 on Tuesday. Afya has a fifty-two week low of $9.66 and a fifty-two week high of $16.16. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $13.40 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $14.14. The company has a market capitalization of $984.06 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 6.40, a P/E/G ratio of 1.65 and a beta of 0.43. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.39, a quick ratio of 2.20 and a current ratio of 2.20.

Afya (NASDAQ:AFYA) last released its earnings results on Friday, August 14th. The company reported $0.43 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.40 by $0.03. Afya had a net margin of 20.55% and a return on equity of 17.58%. The firm had revenue of $187.80 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $189.62 million. Analysts expect that Afya will post 1.72 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Transactions at Afya

In other Afya news, insider Santos Welder Ferreira sold 4,161 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, October 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $13.30, for a total transaction of $55,341.30. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 35,000 shares in the company, valued at approximately $465,500. The trade was a 10.63% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 0.80% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Afya

A hedge fund recently bought a new position in Afya stock. Engineers Gate Manager LP bought a new stake in shares of Afya Limited (NASDAQ:AFYA) in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund bought 21,882 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $325,000. 88.02% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

About Afya

Afya Limited is a medical education and digital health company focused on Brazil. Through its educational platform, the company provides undergraduate medical education, medical residency preparation, specialization and continuing medical education programs, and other learning resources for students and physicians.

Afya also offers digital products and services intended to support healthcare professionals throughout their careers. These include clinical content, study tools, telemedicine and practice-management solutions, and subscription-based applications designed to assist physicians with education, clinical decision-making, and patient care.

The company has expanded through the development and acquisition of medical schools, education businesses, and health technology platforms serving different stages of the medical professional lifecycle.