273,129 Shares in JetBlue Airways Corporation $JBLU Purchased by Donald Smith & CO. Inc.

Donald Smith & CO. Inc. bought a new stake in shares of JetBlue Airways Corporation (NASDAQ:JBLU) during the 2nd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor bought 273,129 shares of the transportation company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,738,000.

Other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. boosted its stake in JetBlue Airways by 85.6% in the 4th quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 12,124,292 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $55,166,000 after purchasing an additional 5,591,470 shares during the period. U S Global Investors Inc. raised its position in shares of JetBlue Airways by 17.2% during the first quarter. U S Global Investors Inc. now owns 5,542,536 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $24,498,000 after buying an additional 813,782 shares during the last quarter. Par Capital Management Inc. raised its position in shares of JetBlue Airways by 105.3% during the second quarter. Par Capital Management Inc. now owns 5,487,425 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $23,212,000 after buying an additional 2,814,870 shares during the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. lifted its holdings in shares of JetBlue Airways by 10.1% in the second quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 4,513,312 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $19,091,000 after buying an additional 412,921 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Deutsche Bank AG lifted its holdings in shares of JetBlue Airways by 1,157.9% in the fourth quarter. Deutsche Bank AG now owns 3,356,021 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $15,270,000 after buying an additional 3,089,226 shares in the last quarter. 83.71% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts recently weighed in on JBLU shares. BMO Capital Markets upped their target price on shares of JetBlue Airways from $6.00 to $6.75 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 29th. UBS Group lifted their price target on shares of JetBlue Airways from $4.00 to $4.50 and gave the company a “sell” rating in a report on Tuesday, June 23rd. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price target on shares of JetBlue Airways from $3.50 to $4.50 and gave the stock a “sell” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 2nd. Weiss Ratings reissued a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of JetBlue Airways in a report on Friday, July 17th. Finally, Seaport Research Partners cut JetBlue Airways from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, August 17th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, five have assigned a Hold rating and six have issued a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Reduce” and a consensus price target of $5.40.

Insider Buying and Selling at JetBlue Airways

In other news, Director Vivek Sharma sold 32,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $5.41, for a total value of $173,120.00. Following the sale, the director directly owned 35,479 shares in the company, valued at $191,941.39. The trade was a 47.42% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CFO Ursula L. Hurley sold 77,253 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, July 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $5.76, for a total transaction of $444,977.28. Following the sale, the chief financial officer owned 211,099 shares in the company, valued at $1,215,930.24. This represents a 26.79% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders have sold 111,253 shares of company stock valued at $629,597 in the last quarter. 2.41% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

JetBlue Airways Stock Up 3.2%

NASDAQ JBLU opened at $4.89 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 5.04, a quick ratio of 0.63 and a current ratio of 0.70. The company has a market capitalization of $1.85 billion, a P/E ratio of -2.05 and a beta of 1.74. JetBlue Airways Corporation has a one year low of $3.87 and a one year high of $6.62. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $5.64 and a 200-day moving average price of $5.25.

JetBlue Airways (NASDAQ:JBLU) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, July 28th. The transportation company reported ($0.66) earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates 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 firm had revenue of $2.70 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.69 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted ($0.21) earnings per share. JetBlue Airways’s revenue for the quarter was up 14.5% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts predict that JetBlue Airways Corporation will post -2.24 EPS for the current fiscal year.

JetBlue Airways 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.