JetBlue Airways (NASDAQ:JBLU) Shares Gap Up - Time to Buy?

JetBlue Airways Corporation (NASDAQ:JBLU - Get Free Report) shares gapped up prior to trading on Thursday . The stock had previously closed at $4.23, but opened at $4.41. JetBlue Airways shares last traded at $4.68, with a volume of 9,994,669 shares changing hands.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms recently commented on JBLU. Citigroup upped their price objective on JetBlue Airways from $4.25 to $5.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a report on Monday, May 5th. Susquehanna decreased their price objective on JetBlue Airways from $6.00 to $4.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a report on Monday, April 7th. Barclays decreased their price objective on JetBlue Airways from $7.00 to $4.00 and set an "underweight" rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, April 8th. Raymond James Financial cut JetBlue Airways from an "outperform" rating to a "market perform" rating in a report on Thursday, May 15th. Finally, Wall Street Zen upgraded JetBlue Airways to a "sell" rating in a research note on Thursday, May 15th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and eight have assigned a hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, JetBlue Airways presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $5.16.

JetBlue Airways Stock Performance

The firm has a market capitalization of $1.56 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -5.35 and a beta of 1.76. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.31, a current ratio of 1.01 and a quick ratio of 0.97. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $4.68 and a 200-day moving average price of $5.49.

JetBlue Airways (NASDAQ:JBLU - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 29th. The transportation company reported ($0.59) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($0.61) by $0.02. The business had revenue of $2.14 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $2.17 billion. JetBlue Airways had a negative return on equity of 11.93% and a negative net margin of 3.12%. The company's revenue for the quarter was down 3.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm earned ($0.43) earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that JetBlue Airways Corporation will post -0.69 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Trading of JetBlue Airways

Several hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. raised its stake in JetBlue Airways by 755.4% in the second quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 1,659,497 shares of the transportation company's stock valued at $7,020,000 after buying an additional 1,465,500 shares in the last quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC acquired a new stake in JetBlue Airways in the second quarter valued at $47,000. Signal Advisors Wealth LLC acquired a new stake in JetBlue Airways in the second quarter valued at $88,000. Strs Ohio acquired a new stake in JetBlue Airways in the first quarter valued at $197,000. Finally, Empowered Funds LLC raised its stake in JetBlue Airways by 1.4% in the first quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 1,415,860 shares of the transportation company's stock valued at $6,824,000 after buying an additional 19,330 shares in the last quarter. 83.71% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

About JetBlue Airways

JetBlue Airways Corporation provides air transportation services. The company operates a fleet of Airbus A321, Airbus A220, Airbus A321neo, Airbus A320 Restyled, Airbus A320, Airbus A321 with Mint, Airbus A321neo with Mint, Airbus A321neoLR with Mint, and Embraer E190 aircraft. It also serves 100 destinations across the United States, the Caribbean and Latin America, Canada, and Europe.