Kettle Hill Capital Management LLC Purchases Shares of 842,400 JetBlue Airways Co. (NASDAQ:JBLU)

Kettle Hill Capital Management LLC acquired a new position in JetBlue Airways Co. (NASDAQ:JBLU - Free Report) during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund acquired 842,400 shares of the transportation company's stock, valued at approximately $6,621,000. JetBlue Airways makes up 1.4% of Kettle Hill Capital Management LLC's holdings, making the stock its 22nd largest holding. Kettle Hill Capital Management LLC owned approximately 0.24% of JetBlue Airways at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of JBLU. FMR LLC raised its position 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 worth $130,470,000 after purchasing an additional 16,486,326 shares during the period. Renaissance Technologies LLC raised its position in shares of JetBlue Airways by 491.7% during the fourth 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 period. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of JetBlue Airways during the fourth quarter worth $14,624,000. Jump Financial LLC raised its position in shares of JetBlue Airways by 200.6% during the fourth quarter. Jump Financial LLC now owns 2,223,354 shares of the transportation company's stock worth $17,476,000 after purchasing an additional 1,483,763 shares during the period. Finally, SG Americas Securities LLC raised its position in shares of JetBlue Airways by 5,648.9% during the fourth quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 1,470,062 shares of the transportation company's stock worth $11,555,000 after purchasing an additional 1,444,491 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 83.71% of the company's stock.

Insider Transactions at JetBlue Airways

In related news, CFO Ursula L. Hurley sold 15,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred 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 owns 41,833 shares in the company, valued at $313,747.50. This represents a 26.39% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. 1.18% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

JBLU has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. UBS Group cut their target price on JetBlue Airways from $5.00 to $3.00 and set a "sell" rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, April 7th. Seaport Res Ptn lowered JetBlue Airways from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 28th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lowered JetBlue Airways from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating and dropped their price target for the company from $9.00 to $7.00 in a research report on Tuesday, March 4th. Citigroup upped their price target on JetBlue Airways from $4.25 to $5.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Monday, May 5th. Finally, Bank of America dropped their price target on JetBlue Airways from $5.25 to $4.25 and set an "underperform" rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, April 3rd. Five analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and one has assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, JetBlue Airways presently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $5.16.

JetBlue Airways Stock Up 2.0%

Shares of JBLU traded up $0.10 during trading hours on Wednesday, hitting $5.03. 42,190,687 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 19,794,042. The company has a market cap of $1.78 billion, a PE ratio of -2.15 and a beta of 1.79. The firm's 50 day moving average is $4.59 and its 200-day moving average is $6.06. JetBlue Airways Co. has a 52 week low of $3.34 and a 52 week high of $8.31. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.08, a quick ratio of 1.18 and a current ratio of 1.10.

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

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.