Afya Limited (NASDAQ:AFYA) Stock Short Interest Report for October

Key Points

• Afya’s short interest plunged 78.5% to 436,997 shares as of October 15, representing about 0.5% of shares outstanding and 0.9 days of average trading volume.
• Analyst sentiment remained mixed but improved overall: two analysts rated the stock Buy and five rated it Hold, resulting in an average “Hold” rating and a $17.25 average price target.
• Afya shares opened at $10.64, down 29.5%, while the company’s latest quarterly results exceeded EPS expectations, reporting $0.43 versus the $0.40 consensus estimate.

Afya Limited (NASDAQ:AFYA - Get Free Report) was the target of a significant decline in short interest in the month of October. As of October 15th, there was short interest totaling 436,997 shares, a decline of 78.5% from the September 30th total of 2,033,841 shares. Approximately 0.5% of the company's shares are sold short. Based on an average daily volume of 505,835 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 0.9 days.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts have issued reports on the company. Bradesco Corretora raised Afya to an "outperform" rating and set a $17.00 price target on the stock in a research note on Thursday, September 24th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded shares of Afya from a "neutral" rating to an "overweight" rating and cut their price objective for the stock from $21.00 to $19.00 in a report on Wednesday, October 7th. Zacks Research upgraded shares of Afya from a "strong sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Monday, October 5th. Weiss Ratings cut shares of Afya from a "hold (c)" rating to a "hold (c-)" rating in a research report on Friday, July 31st. Finally, Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Afya from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a report on Saturday, September 5th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Afya presently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $17.25.

Afya Trading Down 29.5%

Shares of AFYA opened at $10.64 on Tuesday. Afya has a twelve month low of $10.05 and a twelve month high of $16.16. The firm has a market capitalization of $997.18 million, a P/E ratio of 6.49, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.83 and a beta of 0.34. The company has a current ratio of 2.20, a quick ratio of 2.20 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.39. The stock's fifty day simple moving average is $13.96 and its 200 day simple moving average is $14.31.

Afya (NASDAQ:AFYA - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Friday, August 14th. The company reported $0.43 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.40 by $0.03. The firm had revenue of $187.80 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $189.62 million. Afya had a return on equity of 17.58% and a net margin of 20.55%. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Afya will post 1.72 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, insider Santos Welder Ferreira sold 4,161 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Monday, October 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $13.30, for a total value of $55,341.30. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 35,000 shares in the company, valued at approximately $465,500. This represents a 10.63% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website.

Institutional Trading of Afya

An institutional investor recently bought a new stake in Afya stock. Engineers Gate Manager LP purchased a new stake in Afya Limited (NASDAQ:AFYA - Free Report) during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm purchased 21,882 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $325,000. 88.02% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Afya Company Profile

Afya Limited is a medical education and digital health company focused on Brazil. Through its educational platform, the company provides undergraduate medical education, medical residency preparation, specialization and continuing medical education programs, and other learning resources for students and physicians.

Afya also offers digital products and services intended to support healthcare professionals throughout their careers. These include clinical content, study tools, telemedicine and practice-management solutions, and subscription-based applications designed to assist physicians with education, clinical decision-making, and patient care.

The company has expanded through the development and acquisition of medical schools, education businesses, and health technology platforms serving different stages of the medical professional lifecycle.

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