Controladora Vuela Compania de Aviacion (NYSE:VLRS) Rating Lowered to "Sell" at Wall Street Zen

Key Points

• Controladora Vuela Compania de Aviacion has been downgraded by Wall Street Zen from a "hold" to a "sell" rating, reflecting a negative outlook for the stock.
• Analysts have mixed views on the stock, with some firms like UBS raising the price target to $8.00 and maintaining a "buy" rating, while others have cut their targets and ratings.
• The company reported earnings of ($0.54) per share for the last quarter, surpassing estimates, but it continues to face challenges with a negative return on equity.

Wall Street Zen cut shares of Controladora Vuela Compania de Aviacion (NYSE:VLRS - Free Report) from a hold rating to a sell rating in a research report released on Sunday morning.

VLRS has been the subject of several other reports. Barclays boosted their price objective on Controladora Vuela Compania de Aviacion from $4.50 to $5.50 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 24th. Morgan Stanley downgraded Controladora Vuela Compania de Aviacion from an "overweight" rating to an "equal weight" rating and set a $4.40 price target for the company. in a research report on Tuesday, April 29th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price target on Controladora Vuela Compania de Aviacion from $13.00 to $7.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, May 6th. TD Cowen upped their price target on Controladora Vuela Compania de Aviacion from $6.00 to $7.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 23rd. Finally, Citigroup downgraded Controladora Vuela Compania de Aviacion from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating and set a $7.00 price target for the company. in a research report on Friday, August 22nd. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and four have given a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $7.44.

Controladora Vuela Compania de Aviacion Trading Up 0.2%

NYSE:VLRS traded up $0.02 on Friday, hitting $6.19. 344,332 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 489,138. The stock has a market capitalization of $721.17 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -22.91 and a beta of 2.15. Controladora Vuela Compania de Aviacion has a 52 week low of $3.49 and a 52 week high of $9.00. The company's 50-day moving average price is $5.31 and its 200 day moving average price is $5.21. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.73, a quick ratio of 0.68 and a current ratio of 0.69.

Controladora Vuela Compania de Aviacion (NYSE:VLRS - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Monday, July 21st. The transportation company reported ($0.54) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of ($0.75) by $0.21. The company had revenue of $693.00 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $664.01 million. Controladora Vuela Compania de Aviacion had a negative return on equity of 9.89% and a negative net margin of 1.03%.During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $0.09 EPS. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Controladora Vuela Compania de Aviacion will post 1.21 earnings per share for the current year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in VLRS. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC grew its holdings in Controladora Vuela Compania de Aviacion by 34.5% in the 4th quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC now owns 6,396 shares of the transportation company's stock valued at $48,000 after buying an additional 1,641 shares in the last quarter. Inspire Investing LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Controladora Vuela Compania de Aviacion during the 2nd quarter worth $55,000. QRG Capital Management Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Controladora Vuela Compania de Aviacion during the 1st quarter worth $105,000. ABC Arbitrage SA acquired a new stake in shares of Controladora Vuela Compania de Aviacion during the 1st quarter worth $112,000. Finally, Inspire Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of Controladora Vuela Compania de Aviacion by 44.7% during the 2nd quarter. Inspire Advisors LLC now owns 25,681 shares of the transportation company's stock worth $122,000 after purchasing an additional 7,929 shares in the last quarter. 53.32% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

About Controladora Vuela Compania de Aviacion

Controladora Vuela Compañía de Aviación, SAB. de C.V., through its subsidiary, Concesionaria Vuela Compañía de Aviación, SAP.I. de C.V., provides air transportation services for passengers, cargo, and mail in Mexico and internationally. The company operates approximately 590 daily flights on routes connecting 43 cities in Mexico, 22 cities in the United States, 4 cities in Central America, and 2 cities in South America.