JetBlue Airways (NASDAQ:JBLU) Shares Down 17% – What’s Next?

JetBlue Airways Corporation (NASDAQ:JBLU)’s share price was down 17% during mid-day trading on Thursday. The company traded as low as $2.59 and last traded at $2.4330. 46,158,071 shares traded hands during trading, an increase of 78% from the average session volume of 25,900,176 shares. The stock had previously closed at $2.93.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

JBLU has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Wall Street Zen lowered JetBlue Airways from a “sell” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a research report on Saturday, August 22nd. Barclays dropped their price target on JetBlue Airways from $7.00 to $5.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, September 11th. Raymond James Financial restated an “underperform” rating on shares of JetBlue Airways in a report on Monday, July 6th. Citigroup raised shares of JetBlue Airways from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating and reduced their price objective for the company from $5.30 to $4.50 in a research note on Tuesday, October 6th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets decreased their target price on shares of JetBlue Airways from $6.75 to $5.25 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a report on Monday, September 28th. Nine research analysts have rated the stock with a Hold rating and four have issued a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, JetBlue Airways has a consensus rating of “Reduce” and a consensus price target of $4.98.

JetBlue Airways Stock Performance

The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $4.19 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $4.95. The company has a current ratio of 0.70, a quick ratio of 0.63 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 5.04. The stock has a market capitalization of $992.33 million, a PE ratio of -1.10 and a beta of 1.77.

JetBlue Airways (NASDAQ:JBLU) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, July 28th. The transportation company reported ($0.66) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.69) by $0.03. The company had revenue of $2.70 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.69 billion. JetBlue Airways had a negative return on equity of 45.92% and a negative net margin of 9.32%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 14.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned ($0.21) earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts expect that JetBlue Airways Corporation will post -2.77 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Transactions at JetBlue Airways

In other JetBlue Airways news, CFO Ursula Hurley sold 77,253 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, July 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $5.76, for a total transaction of $444,977.28. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 211,099 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,215,930.24. This trade represents a 26.79% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Over the last three months, insiders sold 83,253 shares of company stock valued at $474,477. 2.41% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On JetBlue Airways

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in JBLU. Bank of America Corp DE purchased a new stake in shares of JetBlue Airways during the second quarter worth $20,022,000. Quantinno Capital Management LP boosted its position in JetBlue Airways by 509.5% during the first quarter. Quantinno Capital Management LP now owns 649,600 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $2,871,000 after purchasing an additional 543,017 shares during the last quarter. Counterpoint Mutual Funds LLC boosted its position in JetBlue Airways by 91.1% during the third quarter. Counterpoint Mutual Funds LLC now owns 2,297,994 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $9,721,000 after purchasing an additional 1,095,610 shares during the last quarter. WINTON GROUP Ltd grew its stake in JetBlue Airways by 95.6% in the second quarter. WINTON GROUP Ltd now owns 553,212 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $3,170,000 after purchasing an additional 270,358 shares in the last quarter. Finally, GSA Capital Partners LLP purchased a new position in JetBlue Airways in the second quarter valued at about $1,725,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 83.71% of the company’s stock.

JetBlue Airways Company Profile

JetBlue Airways Corporation is a U.S.-based passenger airline that provides scheduled air transportation to destinations across the United States, the Caribbean, Latin America and select locations in Europe. The company operates primarily from focus cities including New York, Boston, Fort Lauderdale, Orlando and Los Angeles, with a network designed to connect major metropolitan areas and leisure destinations.

JetBlue offers multiple classes and service options, including standard economy seating, extra-legroom EvenMore seats and its premium Mint service on select routes.