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

Key Points

• Short interest surged 132.9% from mid-October to 1,017,739 shares as of October 30, equal to 1.1% of shares outstanding; days to cover stood at 1.7.
• Analyst views were mixed, leaving Afya with a consensus “Hold” rating and an average price target of $15.18. Recent actions included upgrades to Buy and downgrades to Sell or Strong Sell.
• In its latest reported quarter, Afya earned $0.43 per share, above the $0.40 consensus estimate, while revenue of $187.8 million fell short of the $189.62 million forecast.

Afya Limited (NASDAQ:AFYA - Get Free Report) was the target of a significant increase in short interest in October. As of October 30th, there was short interest totaling 1,017,739 shares, an increase of 132.9% from the October 15th total of 436,997 shares. Currently, 1.1% of the company's stock are short sold. Based on an average daily volume of 587,641 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 1.7 days.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, insider Santos Welder Ferreira sold 4,161 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Monday, October 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $13.30, for a total transaction of $55,341.30. Following the sale, the insider owned 35,000 shares in the company, valued at approximately $465,500. The trade was a 10.63% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 0.80% of the company's stock.

Institutional Trading of Afya

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of AFYA. Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio acquired a new stake in shares of Afya during the second quarter worth $67,000. R Squared Ltd grew its position in shares of Afya by 37.0% in the third quarter. R Squared Ltd now owns 60,114 shares of the company's stock valued at $724,000 after purchasing an additional 16,250 shares in the last quarter. Engineers Gate Manager LP purchased a new stake in shares of Afya during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $325,000. Finally, Marshall Wace LLP acquired a new stake in shares of Afya during the third quarter valued at about $399,000. 88.02% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Afya Trading Down 0.1%

NASDAQ:AFYA opened at $10.32 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.39, a current ratio of 2.20 and a quick ratio of 2.20. The firm has a market capitalization of $967.19 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 5.80, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.66 and a beta of 0.43. Afya has a one year low of $9.66 and a one year high of $16.16. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $12.82 and a 200-day moving average price of $14.00.

Afya (NASDAQ:AFYA - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Friday, August 14th. The company reported $0.43 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.40 by $0.03. Afya had a return on equity of 17.43% and a net margin of 20.48%. The company had revenue of $187.80 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $189.62 million. Sell-side analysts forecast that Afya will post 1.68 EPS for the current year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms recently commented on AFYA. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price objective on shares of Afya from $19.00 to $17.50 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, November 3rd. Weiss Ratings downgraded shares of Afya from a "hold (c-)" rating to a "sell (d+)" rating in a research note on Thursday, October 29th. Bradesco Corretora upgraded shares of Afya to an "outperform" rating and set a $17.00 target price for the company in a report on Thursday, September 24th. Zacks Research cut Afya from a "hold" rating to a "strong sell" rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 3rd. Finally, Citigroup raised Afya from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and dropped their price target for the stock from $16.00 to $12.00 in a research report on Tuesday, November 3rd. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, three have given a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Afya currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $15.18.

Afya Company Profile

Afya Limited is a Brazilian medical education and digital health company. Its education business offers undergraduate medical degree programs, medical residency preparation, postgraduate courses and continuing education for health professionals. The company also provides digital tools and services for medical students and practicing physicians, including clinical reference, practice-management and learning resources. These offerings support professionals at different stages of their medical careers.

This instant news alert was generated by narrative science technology and financial data from MarketBeat in order to provide readers with the fastest reporting and unbiased coverage. Please send any questions or comments about this story to contact@marketbeat.com.