JetBlue Airways (NASDAQ:JBLU) Stock Price Up 5.3% - Time to Buy?

JetBlue Airways Co. (NASDAQ:JBLU - Get Free Report) rose 5.3% during mid-day trading on Monday . The stock traded as high as $4.03 and last traded at $4.09. Approximately 2,132,815 shares were traded during mid-day trading, a decline of 89% from the average daily volume of 18,577,809 shares. The stock had previously closed at $3.88.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Susquehanna dropped their price objective on shares of JetBlue Airways from $6.00 to $4.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a report on Monday, April 7th. Raymond James upgraded JetBlue Airways from a "market perform" rating to an "outperform" rating and set a $5.00 price target on the stock in a research note on Monday, April 7th. UBS Group decreased their price objective on JetBlue Airways from $5.00 to $3.00 and set a "sell" rating on the stock in a report on Monday, April 7th. Barclays cut their target price on JetBlue Airways from $7.00 to $4.00 and set an "underweight" rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, April 8th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft cut JetBlue Airways from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating and reduced their target price for the stock from $9.00 to $7.00 in a research report on Tuesday, March 4th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and one has issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $5.09.

JetBlue Airways Stock Up 8.7 %

The stock has a market capitalization of $1.69 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -2.03 and a beta of 1.69. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $4.88 and a 200-day simple moving average of $6.22. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.08, a current ratio of 1.10 and a quick ratio of 1.18.

JetBlue Airways (NASDAQ:JBLU - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, April 29th. The transportation company reported ($0.59) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of ($0.61) by $0.02. The business had revenue of $2.14 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $2.17 billion. JetBlue Airways had a negative net margin of 8.57% and a negative return on equity of 9.31%. The firm's revenue for the quarter was down 3.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company posted ($0.43) EPS. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that JetBlue Airways Co. will post -0.69 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In related news, CFO Ursula L. Hurley sold 15,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $7.50, for a total transaction of $112,500.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 41,833 shares of the company's stock, valued at $313,747.50. This trade represents a 26.39 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director Nik Mittal acquired 100,000 shares of JetBlue Airways stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 4th. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $6.14 per share, for a total transaction of $614,000.00. Following the purchase, the director now owns 116,443 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $714,960.02. This represents a 608.16 % increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. 1.18% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On JetBlue Airways

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in JBLU. FMR LLC grew its stake in shares of JetBlue Airways by 14,595.7% during the fourth quarter. FMR LLC now owns 16,599,279 shares of the transportation company's stock valued at $130,470,000 after purchasing an additional 16,486,326 shares during the last quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC raised its position in JetBlue Airways by 491.7% in the 4th quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 4,274,457 shares of the transportation company's stock worth $33,597,000 after purchasing an additional 3,552,057 shares during the last quarter. Nomura Holdings Inc. lifted its holdings in JetBlue Airways by 3,729.9% during the 4th quarter. Nomura Holdings Inc. now owns 3,436,202 shares of the transportation company's stock worth $27,009,000 after buying an additional 3,346,482 shares in the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its position in JetBlue Airways by 88.2% in the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 5,513,751 shares of the transportation company's stock valued at $36,170,000 after buying an additional 2,584,350 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Voloridge Investment Management LLC increased its stake in shares of JetBlue Airways by 60.8% in the 4th quarter. Voloridge Investment Management LLC now owns 5,203,155 shares of the transportation company's stock valued at $40,897,000 after buying an additional 1,968,343 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 83.71% of the company's stock.

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.