Afya (NASDAQ:AFYA) Stock Falls 4.8% – Should You Sell?

Afya Limited (NASDAQ:AFYA) shares dropped 4.8% on Wednesday. The stock traded as low as $10.22 and last traded at $10.3060. Approximately 196,933 shares were traded during mid-day trading, an increase of 14% from the average daily volume of 172,185 shares. The stock had previously closed at $10.83.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

AFYA has been the subject of several analyst reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded Afya from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and decreased their price objective for the company from $21.00 to $19.00 in a report on Wednesday, October 7th. Weiss Ratings lowered shares of Afya from a “hold (c-)” rating to a “sell (d+)” rating in a research report on Thursday. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Afya from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Saturday, September 5th. Zacks Research raised shares of Afya from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, October 5th. Finally, Bradesco Corretora raised Afya to an “outperform” rating and set a $17.00 target price on the stock in a research report on Thursday, September 24th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, three have assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $17.00.

Afya Stock Down 0.7%

The firm has a 50-day moving average of $13.69 and a two-hundred day moving average of $14.22. The company has a quick ratio of 2.20, a current ratio of 2.20 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.39. The company has a market capitalization of $953.13 million, a PE ratio of 5.82, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.24 and a beta of 0.34.

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

Insiders Place Their Bets

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

Institutional Trading of Afya

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