JetBlue Airways (NASDAQ:JBLU) Reaches New 12-Month High After Analyst Upgrade

JetBlue Airways Co. (NASDAQ:JBLU)’s stock price hit a new 52-week high on Friday after Evercore ISI raised their price target on the stock from $4.00 to $5.00. Evercore ISI currently has an in-line rating on the stock. JetBlue Airways traded as high as $7.65 and last traded at $7.35, with a volume of 9908202 shares changing hands. The stock had previously closed at $6.39.

Several other research firms have also recently commented on JBLU. TD Cowen upped their target price on shares of JetBlue Airways from $5.00 to $6.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, September 6th. Bank of America raised shares of JetBlue Airways from an “underperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and upped their price objective for the company from $3.00 to $6.00 in a research report on Monday, September 9th. Finally, Citigroup lifted their target price on JetBlue Airways from $5.75 to $6.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, September 12th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating and one has given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $5.70.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of JetBlue Airways by 0.9% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 37,376,886 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $277,336,000 after buying an additional 317,263 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its stake in JetBlue Airways by 3.0% in the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 17,878,115 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $108,875,000 after buying an additional 521,767 shares in the last quarter. Donald Smith & CO. Inc. grew its position in JetBlue Airways by 6.5% in the first quarter. Donald Smith & CO. Inc. now owns 13,256,094 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $98,360,000 after acquiring an additional 805,404 shares during the period. American Century Companies Inc. raised its stake in JetBlue Airways by 16.4% during the second quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 8,041,025 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $48,970,000 after acquiring an additional 1,135,217 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Point72 Asset Management L.P. lifted its holdings in shares of JetBlue Airways by 715.3% during the second quarter. Point72 Asset Management L.P. now owns 1,630,622 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $9,930,000 after acquiring an additional 1,430,622 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 83.71% of the company’s stock.

JetBlue Airways Price Performance

The company’s 50 day moving average price is $5.58 and its 200 day moving average price is $5.93. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.86, a quick ratio of 0.50 and a current ratio of 0.54. The company has a market cap of $2.48 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -2.96 and a beta of 1.92.

JetBlue Airways (NASDAQ:JBLU) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 30th. The transportation company reported $0.08 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.18) by $0.26. The firm had revenue of $2.40 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.40 billion. JetBlue Airways had a negative net margin of 10.18% and a negative return on equity of 10.29%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 8.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.45 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts predict that JetBlue Airways Co. will post -1 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

About JetBlue Airways

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.