Controladora Vuela Compania de Aviacion (NYSE:VLRS) Shares Down 6.8% – Time to Sell?

Controladora Vuela Compania de Aviacion, S.A.B. de C.V. (NYSE:VLRS) dropped 6.8% on Monday . The company traded as low as $8.01 and last traded at $8.03. Approximately 696,145 shares traded hands during trading, a decline of 7% from the average daily volume of 749,126 shares. The stock had previously closed at $8.62.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have issued reports on VLRS. Barclays boosted their target price on Controladora Vuela Compania de Aviacion from $11.00 to $12.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 10th. Bank of America raised their target price on shares of Controladora Vuela Compania de Aviacion from $9.50 to $11.20 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, December 22nd. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “sell (d)” rating on shares of Controladora Vuela Compania de Aviacion in a research note on Wednesday, January 21st. Zacks Research downgraded shares of Controladora Vuela Compania de Aviacion from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 24th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and issued a $11.00 target price (up from $9.50) on shares of Controladora Vuela Compania de Aviacion in a research note on Wednesday, January 14th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, five have given a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $9.02.

Controladora Vuela Compania de Aviacion Price Performance

The company has a fifty day moving average price of $9.50 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $7.73. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.68, a quick ratio of 0.72 and a current ratio of 0.73. The company has a market cap of $918.81 million, a P/E ratio of -8.85, a PEG ratio of 3.37 and a beta of 1.88.

Controladora Vuela Compania de Aviacion (NYSE:VLRS) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 24th. The transportation company reported $0.04 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.25 by ($0.21). The company had revenue of $882.00 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $845.68 million. Controladora Vuela Compania de Aviacion had a negative net margin of 3.42% and a negative return on equity of 38.03%. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Controladora Vuela Compania de Aviacion, S.A.B. de C.V. will post 1.21 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Controladora Vuela Compania de Aviacion

Hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Wellington Management Group LLP raised its position in shares of Controladora Vuela Compania de Aviacion by 2.6% in the fourth quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 5,053,229 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $44,873,000 after purchasing an additional 128,088 shares during the period. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership increased its position in shares of Controladora Vuela Compania de Aviacion by 48.9% in the third quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 1,720,522 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $12,353,000 after purchasing an additional 565,250 shares during the period. Thomist Capital Management LP grew its stake in Controladora Vuela Compania de Aviacion by 3.9% during the fourth quarter. Thomist Capital Management LP now owns 1,009,652 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $8,916,000 after buying an additional 37,457 shares in the last quarter. Millennium Management LLC increased its holdings in Controladora Vuela Compania de Aviacion by 126.5% in the 4th quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 990,495 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $8,796,000 after buying an additional 553,251 shares during the period. Finally, Fourth Sail Capital LP raised its position in shares of Controladora Vuela Compania de Aviacion by 0.4% in the 4th quarter. Fourth Sail Capital LP now owns 757,761 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $6,729,000 after buying an additional 3,277 shares in the last quarter. 53.32% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

About Controladora Vuela Compania de Aviacion

Controladora Vuela Compañia de Aviacion, SAB de CV (NYSE: VLRS) is a Mexico-based airline holding company whose primary business is the operation of low-cost scheduled air transportation services. Through its principal operating subsidiary, Volaris, the company provides passenger and cargo flights on domestic and international routes. Its business model emphasizes unbundled ancillary services and point-to-point operations designed to offer competitive fares across its network.

Volaris serves more than 120 routes linking major metropolitan areas and secondary cities in Mexico, the United States and Central America.