JetBlue Airways (NASDAQ:JBLU) Trading Up 5% – Should You Buy?

JetBlue Airways Co. (NASDAQ:JBLU) shares traded up 5% during trading on Monday . The company traded as high as $6.90 and last traded at $6.85. 13,488,205 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 17% from the average session volume of 16,303,948 shares. The stock had previously closed at $6.52.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have recently issued reports on JBLU shares. UBS Group cut their price objective on shares of JetBlue Airways from $5.50 to $5.00 and set a “sell” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, January 29th. Barclays boosted their price objective on shares of JetBlue Airways from $5.00 to $7.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a report on Thursday, November 14th. StockNews.com raised JetBlue Airways to a “sell” rating in a report on Thursday, November 7th. Bank of America restated an “underperform” rating and set a $6.50 price target on shares of JetBlue Airways in a research note on Friday, January 17th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group reissued a “sell” rating and issued a $5.50 price objective on shares of JetBlue Airways in a report on Friday, November 15th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and seven have issued a hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $6.26.

JetBlue Airways Trading Down 0.9 %

The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $7.20 and a 200 day simple moving average of $6.56. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.28 billion, a P/E ratio of -2.76 and a beta of 1.83. The company has a quick ratio of 1.18, a current ratio of 1.10 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.08.

JetBlue Airways (NASDAQ:JBLU) last released 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 period in the prior year, the firm earned ($0.19) EPS. As a group, research analysts forecast that JetBlue Airways Co. will post -0.69 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity at JetBlue Airways

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

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of JetBlue Airways by 0.4% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 32,410,772 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $254,749,000 after acquiring an additional 121,267 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC grew its stake in shares of JetBlue Airways by 14,595.7% during the fourth quarter. FMR LLC now owns 16,599,279 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $130,470,000 after acquiring an additional 16,486,326 shares during the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. increased its holdings in shares of JetBlue Airways by 8.4% during the fourth quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 8,771,993 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $68,948,000 after acquiring an additional 678,891 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its position in shares of JetBlue Airways by 18.8% in the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 6,725,671 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $52,864,000 after purchasing an additional 1,063,929 shares during the last quarter. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its stake in JetBlue Airways by 88.2% in 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. Institutional investors own 83.71% of the company’s stock.

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.