Great Lakes Advisors LLC Acquires New Stake in JetBlue Airways Corporation $JBLU

Great Lakes Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of JetBlue Airways Corporation (NASDAQ:JBLU) in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm purchased 239,960 shares of the transportation company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,375,000.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the business. AQR Capital Management LLC increased its position in shares of JetBlue Airways by 131.2% in the first quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 90,534 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $436,000 after purchasing an additional 51,377 shares during the last quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. lifted its position in JetBlue Airways by 4.5% during the first quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 185,801 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $896,000 after purchasing an additional 8,053 shares during the last quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. grew its stake in JetBlue Airways by 6.1% in the 1st quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 4,789,448 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $23,085,000 after buying an additional 274,892 shares in the last quarter. United Services Automobile Association purchased a new position in JetBlue Airways in the 1st quarter worth approximately $106,000. Finally, Cetera Investment Advisers increased its holdings in shares of JetBlue Airways by 10.7% in the 2nd quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 30,678 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $130,000 after buying an additional 2,954 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 83.71% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

JBLU has been the topic of several research reports. Citigroup cut shares of JetBlue Airways from a “neutral” rating to a “sell” rating and lowered their price objective for the company from $6.60 to $5.30 in a research report on Friday, August 7th. BMO Capital Markets increased their target price on JetBlue Airways from $6.00 to $6.75 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 29th. Wall Street Zen downgraded JetBlue Airways from a “sell” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a research report on Saturday. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of JetBlue Airways in a research note on Friday, July 17th. Finally, Bank of America upped their price objective on JetBlue Airways from $3.50 to $4.00 and gave the stock an “underperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 1st. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, five have issued a Hold rating and six have assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, JetBlue Airways presently has a consensus rating of “Reduce” and a consensus price target of $5.40.

Insider Activity at JetBlue Airways

In other JetBlue Airways news, CFO Ursula L. Hurley sold 77,253 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, July 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $5.76, for a total value of $444,977.28. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer owned 211,099 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,215,930.24. The trade was a 26.79% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, Director Vivek Sharma sold 32,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $5.41, for a total transaction of $173,120.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 35,479 shares in the company, valued at $191,941.39. This represents a 47.42% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 111,253 shares of company stock worth $629,597. 2.41% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

JetBlue Airways Price Performance

JBLU stock opened at $4.89 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $1.85 billion, a P/E ratio of -2.05 and a beta of 1.74. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $5.64 and its 200 day moving average is $5.25. JetBlue Airways Corporation has a 52 week low of $3.87 and a 52 week high of $6.62. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 5.04, a quick ratio of 0.63 and a current ratio of 0.70.

JetBlue Airways (NASDAQ:JBLU) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 28th. The transportation company reported ($0.66) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($0.69) by $0.03. JetBlue Airways had a negative net margin of 9.32% and a negative return on equity of 45.92%. The business had revenue of $2.70 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.69 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted ($0.21) earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 14.5% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts predict that JetBlue Airways Corporation will post -2.24 earnings per share for the current year.

JetBlue Airways Company Profile

JetBlue Airways Corporation is a low-cost scheduled passenger airline headquartered in Long Island City, New York. Since commencing service in 2000, the carrier has built a reputation for combining competitive fares with enhanced onboard amenities, including free in-flight entertainment, complimentary snacks and beverages, and onboard Wi-Fi. JetBlue operates a single fleet type of Airbus A320 family and Embraer 190 aircraft, which supports its focus on efficiency and operational consistency.

The airline’s core offerings include economy-class travel and a premium business-class product known as Mint, which features lie-flat seats, curated culinary options and elevated service on select transcontinental and international routes.