JetBlue Airways Co. (NASDAQ:JBLU) Short Interest Update

JetBlue Airways Co. (NASDAQ:JBLU) was the recipient of a significant drop in short interest during the month of January. As of January 31st, there was short interest totalling 52,870,000 shares, a drop of 12.2% from the January 15th total of 60,200,000 shares. Approximately 18.1% of the company’s stock are sold short. Based on an average daily volume of 20,820,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 2.5 days.

JetBlue Airways Trading Up 1.5 %

Shares of NASDAQ:JBLU traded up $0.10 during midday trading on Monday, hitting $6.78. The company had a trading volume of 11,558,938 shares, compared to its average volume of 26,478,670. JetBlue Airways has a 12 month low of $4.49 and a 12 month high of $8.31. The company has a current ratio of 1.21, a quick ratio of 1.18 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.98. The stock has a market cap of $2.35 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -2.90 and a beta of 1.83. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $7.25 and a 200 day simple moving average of $6.46.

JetBlue Airways (NASDAQ:JBLU) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, January 28th. The transportation company reported ($0.21) earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of ($0.42) by $0.21. JetBlue Airways had a negative return on equity of 9.29% and a negative net margin of 8.57%. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned ($0.19) EPS. On average, analysts predict that JetBlue Airways will post -0.58 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity at JetBlue Airways

In related news, Director Nik Mittal purchased 100,000 shares of JetBlue Airways stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 4th. The stock was bought at an average price of $6.14 per share, with a total value of $614,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 116,443 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $714,960.02. This represents a 608.16 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Insiders own 1.18% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. FMR LLC raised its stake in shares of JetBlue Airways by 14,595.7% in the 4th quarter. FMR LLC now owns 16,599,279 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $130,470,000 after purchasing an additional 16,486,326 shares during the period. Renaissance Technologies LLC raised its stake in shares of JetBlue Airways by 491.7% in the 4th quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 4,274,457 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $33,597,000 after purchasing an additional 3,552,057 shares during the period. Nomura Holdings Inc. increased its position in shares of JetBlue Airways by 3,729.9% in the fourth quarter. Nomura Holdings Inc. now owns 3,436,202 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $27,009,000 after acquiring an additional 3,346,482 shares during the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its position in shares of JetBlue Airways by 88.2% in the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 5,513,751 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $36,170,000 after acquiring an additional 2,584,350 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of JetBlue Airways in the fourth quarter valued at about $14,624,000. 83.71% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have recently commented on JBLU shares. Morgan Stanley reiterated an “equal weight” rating and issued a $8.00 price objective on shares of JetBlue Airways in a research note on Wednesday, December 11th. Seaport Res Ptn lowered JetBlue Airways from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 28th. StockNews.com raised JetBlue Airways to a “sell” rating in a report on Thursday, November 7th. Susquehanna dropped their target price on JetBlue Airways from $8.00 to $6.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, February 4th. Finally, UBS Group dropped their price target on JetBlue Airways from $5.50 to $5.00 and set a “sell” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, January 29th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating and one has issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, JetBlue Airways has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $6.51.

JetBlue Airways Company Profile

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.