Short Interest in Azul S.A. (NYSE:AZUL) Rises By 25.2%

Azul S.A. (NYSE:AZUL - Get Free Report) was the recipient of a significant increase in short interest in April. As of April 15th, there was short interest totalling 4,620,000 shares, an increase of 25.2% from the March 31st total of 3,690,000 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 1,610,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 2.9 days.

Institutional Trading of Azul

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in AZUL. Harel Insurance Investments & Financial Services Ltd. raised its holdings in shares of Azul by 66.7% during the third quarter. Harel Insurance Investments & Financial Services Ltd. now owns 5,000 shares of the company's stock worth $42,000 after acquiring an additional 2,000 shares in the last quarter. AXQ Capital LP acquired a new position in Azul in the 3rd quarter worth about $205,000. Aigen Investment Management LP purchased a new stake in shares of Azul during the 4th quarter worth about $214,000. Privium Fund Management UK Ltd acquired a new stake in shares of Azul during the 3rd quarter valued at about $341,000. Finally, Dynamic Technology Lab Private Ltd grew its stake in shares of Azul by 46.4% in the 4th quarter. Dynamic Technology Lab Private Ltd now owns 68,004 shares of the company's stock valued at $659,000 after buying an additional 21,549 shares in the last quarter. 0.82% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Barclays cut their price objective on Azul from $14.00 to $12.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a report on Monday, April 1st. Raymond James reissued an "outperform" rating and issued a $12.00 price target (down from $13.00) on shares of Azul in a report on Monday, April 15th. Finally, Bank of America reaffirmed an "underperform" rating and issued a $9.50 price objective (down previously from $18.00) on shares of Azul in a research note on Thursday, April 18th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has issued a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $12.26.

Azul Trading Down 4.6 %

Shares of Azul stock traded down $0.27 on Tuesday, reaching $5.60. 980,162 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,588,886. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $7.27 and a 200-day moving average price of $8.32. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.36 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -6.14 and a beta of 1.85. Azul has a fifty-two week low of $5.16 and a fifty-two week high of $13.86.

Azul (NYSE:AZUL - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, March 28th. The company reported ($0.47) earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($0.22) by ($0.25). The business had revenue of $1.02 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $1.02 billion. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Azul will post -0.75 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Azul Company Profile

Azul SA, together with its subsidiaries, provides scheduled air transportation services in Brazil. As of December 31, 2022, the company operated approximately 1,000 daily departures to 158 destinations through a network of 300 non-stop routes with an operating fleet of 177 aircraft and a passenger contractual fleet of 194 aircraft.

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