Azul (NYSE:AZUL) Shares Up 7.4%

Azul S.A. (NYSE:AZUL)’s stock price rose 7.4% during mid-day trading on Friday . The company traded as high as $6.46 and last traded at $6.35. Approximately 651,084 shares changed hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 58% from the average daily volume of 1,561,485 shares. The stock had previously closed at $5.91.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

AZUL has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Raymond James reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $12.00 target price (down previously from $13.00) on shares of Azul in a report on Monday, April 15th. Barclays dropped their price objective on Azul from $14.00 to $12.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, April 1st. Finally, Bank of America reaffirmed an “underperform” rating and set a $9.50 price objective (down previously from $18.00) on shares of Azul in a report on Thursday, April 18th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has issued a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Azul currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $12.26.

Azul Stock Up 8.5 %

The stock has a fifty day moving average of $7.17 and a two-hundred day moving average of $8.27. The stock has a market cap of $2.70 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -6.83 and a beta of 1.94.

Azul (NYSE:AZUL) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, March 28th. The company reported ($0.47) earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.22) by ($0.25). The company had revenue of $1.02 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.02 billion. On average, research analysts expect that Azul S.A. will post -0.75 EPS for the current year.

Institutional Trading of Azul

Several large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Harel Insurance Investments & Financial Services Ltd. grew its holdings in Azul by 66.7% in the third quarter. Harel Insurance Investments & Financial Services Ltd. now owns 5,000 shares of the company’s stock valued at $42,000 after purchasing an additional 2,000 shares during the last quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp grew its holdings in Azul by 4.1% in the third quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 76,731 shares of the company’s stock valued at $659,000 after purchasing an additional 3,005 shares during the last quarter. Coronation Fund Managers Ltd. grew its holdings in Azul by 16.0% in the first quarter. Coronation Fund Managers Ltd. now owns 24,961 shares of the company’s stock valued at $194,000 after purchasing an additional 3,450 shares during the last quarter. Dynamic Technology Lab Private Ltd grew its holdings in Azul by 46.4% in the fourth quarter. Dynamic Technology Lab Private Ltd now owns 68,004 shares of the company’s stock valued at $659,000 after purchasing an additional 21,549 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Aigen Investment Management LP acquired a new stake in Azul in the fourth quarter valued at $214,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 0.82% of the company’s stock.

About Azul

Azul SA, together with its subsidiaries, provides scheduled air transportation services in Brazil. As of December 31, 2022, the company operated approximately 1,000 daily departures to 158 destinations through a network of 300 non-stop routes with an operating fleet of 177 aircraft and a passenger contractual fleet of 194 aircraft.