Azul (NYSE:AZUL) Trading Down 4.6% After Analyst Downgrade

Azul S.A. (NYSE:AZUL - Get Free Report) shares fell 4.6% on Thursday after Barclays lowered their price target on the stock from $12.00 to $10.00. Barclays currently has an equal weight rating on the stock. Azul traded as low as $5.94 and last traded at $5.99. 815,100 shares changed hands during trading, a decline of 48% from the average session volume of 1,561,531 shares. The stock had previously closed at $6.28.

AZUL has been the subject of several other research reports. Raymond James reiterated an "outperform" rating and issued a $12.00 target price (down previously from $13.00) on shares of Azul in a research note on Monday, April 15th. Bank of America reissued an "underperform" rating and issued a $9.50 price target (down from $18.00) on shares of Azul in a report on Thursday, April 18th. One investment 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. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $11.86.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Azul

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. Inspire Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of Azul by 19.4% during the first quarter. Inspire Advisors LLC now owns 18,699 shares of the company's stock worth $145,000 after acquiring an additional 3,042 shares during the last quarter. Aigen Investment Management LP purchased a new position in shares of Azul during the fourth quarter worth $214,000. AXQ Capital LP acquired a new position in Azul during the third quarter valued at $205,000. Coronation Fund Managers Ltd. boosted its holdings in Azul by 16.0% in the first quarter. Coronation Fund Managers Ltd. now owns 24,961 shares of the company's stock valued at $194,000 after purchasing an additional 3,450 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Quantbot Technologies LP grew its position in Azul by 310.0% during the 1st quarter. Quantbot Technologies LP now owns 31,813 shares of the company's stock worth $247,000 after purchasing an additional 24,054 shares during the period. 0.82% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Azul Stock Performance

The firm has a market cap of $2.49 billion, a PE ratio of -6.34 and a beta of 1.94. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $6.97 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $8.17.

Azul (NYSE:AZUL - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, March 28th. The company reported ($0.47) earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of ($0.22) by ($0.25). The company had revenue of $1.02 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $1.02 billion. Equities research analysts forecast that Azul S.A. will post -0.75 earnings per share for the current 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.