Afya (NASDAQ:AFYA) Stock Rating Upgraded by Bank of America

Key Points

• Bank of America upgraded Afya from “neutral” to “buy” and set a $16 price target, implying 56.25% upside from the previous close.
• Analyst sentiment remains mixed: Afya has a consensus “hold” rating and an average price target of $17, despite recent upgrades from JPMorgan, Wall Street Zen, and Bradesco Corretora.
• Afya shares opened at $10.24 after falling 5.4%; the company recently exceeded quarterly EPS expectations, reporting $0.43 versus the $0.40 consensus estimate.

Afya (NASDAQ:AFYA - Get Free Report) was upgraded by equities research analysts at Bank of America from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating in a note issued to investors on Thursday, Marketbeat.com reports. The brokerage presently has a $16.00 price target on the stock. Bank of America's price objective would indicate a potential upside of 56.25% from the stock's previous close.

A number of other analysts also recently issued reports on AFYA. Weiss Ratings downgraded Afya from a "hold (c)" rating to a "hold (c-)" rating in a report on Friday, July 31st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded Afya from a "neutral" rating to an "overweight" rating and decreased their target price for the stock from $21.00 to $19.00 in a research note on Wednesday, October 7th. Zacks Research raised Afya from a "strong sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Monday, October 5th. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Afya from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a report on Saturday, September 5th. Finally, Bradesco Corretora upgraded shares of Afya to an "outperform" rating and set a $17.00 price objective for the company in a research report on Thursday, September 24th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and four have issued a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Afya has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $17.00.

Afya Trading Down 5.4%

Shares of NASDAQ AFYA opened at $10.24 on Thursday. The stock has a market capitalization of $959.72 million, a PE ratio of 6.24, a PEG ratio of 1.83 and a beta of 0.34. The company has a current ratio of 2.20, a quick ratio of 2.20 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.39. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $13.77 and a 200-day simple moving average of $14.24. Afya has a twelve month low of $10.02 and a twelve month high of $16.16.

Afya (NASDAQ:AFYA - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Friday, August 14th. The company reported $0.43 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.40 by $0.03. The business had revenue of $187.80 million for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $189.62 million. Afya had a net margin of 20.55% and a return on equity of 17.58%. On average, equities analysts forecast that Afya will post 1.72 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity

In other news, insider Santos Welder Ferreira sold 4,161 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, October 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $13.30, for a total transaction of $55,341.30. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 35,000 shares in the company, valued at approximately $465,500. This trade represents a 10.63% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A hedge fund recently bought a new position in Afya stock. Engineers Gate Manager LP acquired a new position in shares of Afya Limited (NASDAQ:AFYA - Free Report) in the second quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm acquired 21,882 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $325,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 88.02% of the company's stock.

Afya Company Profile

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.

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