JetBlue Airways (NASDAQ:JBLU) Shares Gap Down Following Analyst Downgrade

JetBlue Airways Co. (NASDAQ:JBLU)’s stock price gapped down before the market opened on Tuesday after JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price target on the stock from $7.00 to $6.00. The stock had previously closed at $7.51, but opened at $6.11. JPMorgan Chase & Co. currently has a neutral rating on the stock. JetBlue Airways shares last traded at $6.44, with a volume of 11,918,703 shares trading hands.

JBLU has been the subject of several other research reports. Evercore ISI boosted their price objective on JetBlue Airways from $5.00 to $8.00 and gave the stock an “in-line” rating in a report on Thursday, April 4th. UBS Group assumed coverage on shares of JetBlue Airways in a research report on Wednesday, March 20th. They set a “sell” rating and a $5.00 price objective on the stock. Barclays began coverage on shares of JetBlue Airways in a research report on Wednesday, March 27th. They issued an “underweight” rating and a $6.00 target price for the company. Bank of America downgraded JetBlue Airways from a “neutral” rating to an “underperform” rating and dropped their target price for the stock from $6.00 to $3.00 in a research report on Tuesday, January 9th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised shares of JetBlue Airways from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price target for the stock from $4.00 to $9.00 in a research note on Tuesday, February 20th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating and one has given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, JetBlue Airways presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $5.78.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On JetBlue Airways

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC bought a new stake in shares of JetBlue Airways during the 1st quarter valued at $25,000. Performa Ltd US LLC lifted its position in JetBlue Airways by 96.6% during the 3rd quarter. Performa Ltd US LLC now owns 5,700 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $26,000 after acquiring an additional 2,800 shares during the period. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its stake in JetBlue Airways by 169.8% during the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 3,777 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $28,000 after acquiring an additional 2,377 shares in the last quarter. Signaturefd LLC grew its holdings in JetBlue Airways by 72.8% in the third quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 6,531 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $30,000 after purchasing an additional 2,751 shares during the period. Finally, Versant Capital Management Inc increased its stake in shares of JetBlue Airways by 41.3% during the fourth quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 6,371 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $35,000 after purchasing an additional 1,861 shares in the last quarter. 83.71% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

JetBlue Airways Stock Down 3.1 %

The company has a current ratio of 0.60, a quick ratio of 0.57 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.32. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $6.91 and its 200-day moving average price is $5.65.

JetBlue Airways (NASDAQ:JBLU) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 23rd. The transportation company reported ($0.43) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.53) by $0.10. JetBlue Airways had a negative return on equity of 5.38% and a negative net margin of 8.79%. The business had revenue of $2.20 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.20 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned ($0.34) earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 5.5% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts predict that JetBlue Airways Co. will post -0.72 EPS for the current 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.