Azul S.A. (NYSE:AZUL – Free Report) was the target of a large decline in short interest during the month of June. As of June 15th, there was short interest totalling 4,240,000 shares, a decline of 37.9% from the May 31st total of 6,830,000 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 2,340,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 1.8 days.
Institutional Investors Weigh In On Azul
Hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. UBS Group AG raised its position in shares of Azul by 930.7% in the 2nd quarter. UBS Group AG now owns 3,628 shares of the company’s stock worth $26,000 after acquiring an additional 3,276 shares in the last quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC raised its position in shares of Azul by 697.6% in the 1st quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC now owns 6,915 shares of the company’s stock worth $49,000 after acquiring an additional 6,048 shares in the last quarter. BNP Paribas Arbitrage SA raised its position in shares of Azul by 18.0% in the 2nd quarter. BNP Paribas Arbitrage SA now owns 9,746 shares of the company’s stock worth $69,000 after acquiring an additional 1,487 shares in the last quarter. Pasadena Private Wealth LLC bought a new position in shares of Azul in the 4th quarter worth $73,000. Finally, Avantax Advisory Services Inc. bought a new position in shares of Azul in the 1st quarter worth $108,000. 2.30% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.
Azul Stock Performance
AZUL opened at $13.69 on Friday. The business has a fifty day moving average of $9.84 and a 200 day moving average of $7.53. Azul has a 52-week low of $3.82 and a 52-week high of $13.78.
Azul (NYSE:AZUL – Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Monday, May 15th. The company reported ($0.99) earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($0.42) by ($0.57). The business had revenue of $862.07 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $930.89 million. On average, analysts expect that Azul will post -1.49 EPS for the current fiscal year.
Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades
A number of analysts have issued reports on AZUL shares. UBS Group raised Azul from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, March 20th. Bank of America upgraded Azul from an “underperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and lifted their target price for the stock from $6.90 to $11.00 in a report on Monday, May 22nd. Raymond James lifted their target price on Azul from $12.00 to $14.00 in a report on Wednesday, May 31st. Finally, Morgan Stanley upgraded Azul from an “underweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and lifted their target price for the stock from $6.00 to $8.60 in a report on Wednesday, March 15th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating and one has given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Azul presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $10.12.
Azul Company Profile
Azul SA, together with its subsidiaries, provides scheduled air transportation services in Brazil. As of December 31, 2022, the company operated approximately 1,000 daily departures to 158 destinations through a network of 300 non-stop routes with an operating fleet of 177 aircraft and a passenger contractual fleet of 194 aircraft.