JetBlue Airways Co. (NASDAQ:JBLU) Short Interest Up 16.5% in March

JetBlue Airways Co. (NASDAQ:JBLU - Get Free Report) was the target of a large increase in short interest during the month of March. As of March 31st, there was short interest totalling 43,580,000 shares, an increase of 16.5% from the March 15th total of 37,410,000 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 16,830,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 2.6 days.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts have recently commented on the company. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upgraded JetBlue Airways from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and lifted their target price for the stock from $4.00 to $9.00 in a report on Tuesday, February 20th. UBS Group initiated coverage on JetBlue Airways in a report on Wednesday, March 20th. They set a "sell" rating and a $5.00 price objective for the company. Barclays initiated coverage on JetBlue Airways in a report on Wednesday, March 27th. They issued an "underweight" rating and a $6.00 target price for the company. Susquehanna upped their target price on JetBlue Airways from $5.00 to $6.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Tuesday, April 9th. Finally, Bank of America cut JetBlue Airways from a "neutral" rating to an "underperform" rating and lowered their target price for the stock from $6.00 to $3.00 in a report on Tuesday, January 9th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating and one has given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $5.75.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On JetBlue Airways

Hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of JetBlue Airways by 9.2% during the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 36,705,537 shares of the transportation company's stock valued at $168,845,000 after acquiring an additional 3,099,071 shares during the last quarter. U S Global Investors Inc. raised its holdings in shares of JetBlue Airways by 24.2% during the fourth quarter. U S Global Investors Inc. now owns 9,781,327 shares of the transportation company's stock valued at $54,286,000 after acquiring an additional 1,903,910 shares during the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. raised its holdings in shares of JetBlue Airways by 107.2% during the third quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 3,462,036 shares of the transportation company's stock valued at $15,925,000 after acquiring an additional 1,791,273 shares during the last quarter. Two Sigma Advisers LP raised its holdings in shares of JetBlue Airways by 110.6% during the fourth quarter. Two Sigma Advisers LP now owns 3,148,600 shares of the transportation company's stock valued at $20,403,000 after acquiring an additional 1,653,400 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Bridgeway Capital Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of JetBlue Airways during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $8,666,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 83.71% of the company's stock.

JetBlue Airways Stock Performance

JetBlue Airways stock traded down $0.12 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $6.75. 17,464,133 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 9,732,768. JetBlue Airways has a 1 year low of $3.42 and a 1 year high of $9.45. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.32, a current ratio of 0.60 and a quick ratio of 0.57. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.30 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -7.18 and a beta of 1.86. The firm's 50 day moving average price is $6.83 and its 200-day moving average price is $5.53.

JetBlue Airways (NASDAQ:JBLU - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, January 30th. The transportation company reported ($0.19) EPS for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of ($0.29) by $0.10. The firm had revenue of $2.33 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.29 billion. JetBlue Airways had a negative return on equity of 4.41% and a negative net margin of 3.23%. The company's revenue was down 3.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $0.22 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts expect that JetBlue Airways will post -0.68 EPS for the current fiscal year.

JetBlue Airways Company Profile

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.