Marshall Wace LLP Sells 178,597 Shares of Afya Limited (NASDAQ:AFYA)

Marshall Wace LLP cut its position in shares of Afya Limited (NASDAQ:AFYA - Free Report) by 77.1% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 52,949 shares of the company's stock after selling 178,597 shares during the quarter. Marshall Wace LLP owned 0.06% of Afya worth $841,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of AFYA. State Street Corp increased its holdings in shares of Afya by 118.2% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 73,098 shares of the company's stock valued at $1,248,000 after buying an additional 39,592 shares in the last quarter. Teacher Retirement System of Texas purchased a new stake in Afya during the fourth quarter valued at about $329,000. Renaissance Technologies LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Afya by 14.0% in the fourth quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 412,000 shares of the company's stock worth $6,543,000 after buying an additional 50,700 shares during the period. Wellington Management Group LLP purchased a new position in shares of Afya in the fourth quarter worth approximately $829,000. Finally, Van ECK Associates Corp raised its holdings in shares of Afya by 41.9% during the fourth quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 9,677 shares of the company's stock valued at $154,000 after acquiring an additional 2,856 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 88.02% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts have weighed in on the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their target price on Afya from $25.00 to $20.50 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, January 17th. Citigroup reaffirmed a "sell" rating and set a $15.00 price objective (down from $18.00) on shares of Afya in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Finally, Morgan Stanley downgraded shares of Afya from an "equal weight" rating to an "underweight" rating and cut their target price for the stock from $19.00 to $17.00 in a research report on Tuesday, March 11th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and two have assigned a hold rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of "Reduce" and an average target price of $17.60.

Afya Stock Performance

Shares of Afya stock traded down $0.15 on Tuesday, reaching $18.80. The stock had a trading volume of 2,770 shares, compared to its average volume of 100,376. Afya Limited has a fifty-two week low of $14.52 and a fifty-two week high of $20.06. The business's 50-day moving average price is $17.73 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $16.84. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.51, a quick ratio of 1.60 and a current ratio of 1.60. The stock has a market cap of $1.76 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.16, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.29 and a beta of 0.60.

Afya Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a -- dividend, which was paid on Friday, April 4th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, March 26th were given a dividend of $0.232 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, March 26th. Afya's dividend payout ratio is currently 17.69%.

Afya Company Profile

Afya Limited, through its subsidiaries, operates as a medical education group in Brazil. The company operates through three segments: Undergrad, Continuing Education, and Digital Services. It offers educational products and services, including medical schools, medical residency preparatory courses, graduate courses, and other programs to lifelong medical learners enrolled across its distribution network, as well as to third-party medical schools.