JetBlue Airways (NASDAQ:JBLU) Trading Down 4.8% – Should You Sell?

JetBlue Airways Co. (NASDAQ:JBLU) fell 4.8% during trading on Wednesday . The stock traded as low as $5.58 and last traded at $5.48. 2,415,440 shares traded hands during trading, a decline of 90% from the average session volume of 23,496,020 shares. The stock had previously closed at $5.75.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

JBLU has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Seaport Res Ptn lowered JetBlue Airways from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 28th. Barclays boosted their target price 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. Susquehanna cut their price target on shares of JetBlue Airways from $8.00 to $6.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, February 4th. The Goldman Sachs Group restated a “sell” rating and set a $5.50 price objective on shares of JetBlue Airways in a research note on Friday, November 15th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft downgraded shares of JetBlue Airways from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and cut their target price for the company from $9.00 to $7.00 in a research note on Tuesday, March 4th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and eight have assigned a hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $6.33.

JetBlue Airways Stock Performance

The company has a quick ratio of 1.18, a current ratio of 1.10 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.08. The company has a market cap of $1.94 billion, a P/E ratio of -2.35 and a beta of 1.80. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $6.87 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $6.61.

JetBlue Airways (NASDAQ:JBLU) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, January 28th. The transportation company reported ($0.21) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating 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 previous year, the firm earned ($0.19) earnings per share. On average, research analysts predict that JetBlue Airways Co. will post -0.69 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at JetBlue Airways

In other news, Director Nik Mittal acquired 100,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 4th. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $6.14 per share, for a total transaction of $614,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 116,443 shares in the company, valued at approximately $714,960.02. This trade represents a 608.16 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CFO Ursula L. Hurley sold 15,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $7.50, for a total value of $112,500.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 41,833 shares in the company, valued at approximately $313,747.50. This represents a 26.39 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 1.18% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On JetBlue Airways

Institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. FMR LLC boosted its stake in JetBlue Airways by 14,595.7% in the fourth quarter. FMR LLC now owns 16,599,279 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $130,470,000 after buying an additional 16,486,326 shares in the last quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC boosted its stake 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 purchasing an additional 3,552,057 shares in the last quarter. Nomura Holdings Inc. grew its holdings in shares of JetBlue Airways by 3,729.9% during the 4th quarter. Nomura Holdings Inc. now owns 3,436,202 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $27,009,000 after purchasing an additional 3,346,482 shares during the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased 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 lifted its stake in JetBlue Airways by 60.8% in the 4th quarter. Voloridge Investment Management LLC now owns 5,203,155 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $40,897,000 after purchasing an additional 1,968,343 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.