JetBlue Airways (NASDAQ:JBLU) Coverage Initiated at Barclays

Research analysts at Barclays began coverage on shares of JetBlue Airways (NASDAQ:JBLU) in a report issued on Wednesday, Marketbeat reports. The brokerage set an “underweight” rating and a $6.00 price target on the transportation company’s stock. Barclays‘s target price points to a potential downside of 19.14% from the stock’s current price.

Several other equities research analysts also recently weighed in on the stock. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upgraded shares of JetBlue Airways from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their target price for the stock from $4.00 to $9.00 in a research note on Tuesday, February 20th. UBS Group assumed coverage on shares of JetBlue Airways in a research note on Wednesday, March 20th. They set a “sell” rating and a $5.00 target price for the company. Finally, Bank of America downgraded shares of JetBlue Airways from a “neutral” rating to an “underperform” rating and decreased their target price for the stock from $6.00 to $3.00 in a research note on Tuesday, January 9th. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating and one has given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, JetBlue Airways presently has a consensus rating of “Reduce” and an average price target of $5.53.

JetBlue Airways Stock Performance

Shares of JBLU stock opened at $7.42 on Wednesday. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $6.47 and its two-hundred day moving average is $5.36. The firm has a market cap of $2.52 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -7.89 and a beta of 1.85. JetBlue Airways has a 1 year low of $3.42 and a 1 year high of $9.45. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.32, a quick ratio of 0.57 and a current ratio of 0.60.

JetBlue Airways (NASDAQ:JBLU) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, January 30th. The transportation company reported ($0.19) earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of ($0.29) by $0.10. JetBlue Airways had a negative net margin of 3.23% and a negative return on equity of 4.41%. The business had revenue of $2.33 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.29 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.22 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was down 3.7% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts predict that JetBlue Airways will post -0.71 earnings per share for the current year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On JetBlue Airways

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of JBLU. Raymond James & Associates lifted its position in shares of JetBlue Airways by 162.3% during the 1st quarter. Raymond James & Associates now owns 174,219 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $2,605,000 after acquiring an additional 107,791 shares during the period. American Century Companies Inc. increased its stake in shares of JetBlue Airways by 21.7% during the 1st quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 44,471 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $665,000 after purchasing an additional 7,941 shares in the last quarter. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. increased its stake in shares of JetBlue Airways by 4.2% during the 1st quarter. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. now owns 57,508 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $860,000 after purchasing an additional 2,320 shares in the last quarter. Natixis Advisors L.P. increased its stake in shares of JetBlue Airways by 10.2% during the 1st quarter. Natixis Advisors L.P. now owns 20,552 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $307,000 after purchasing an additional 1,902 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund purchased a new position in shares of JetBlue Airways during the 1st quarter worth approximately $1,117,000. 83.71% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.