HighTower Advisors LLC Sells 19,951 Shares of JetBlue Airways Co. (NASDAQ:JBLU)

HighTower Advisors LLC lessened its stake in shares of JetBlue Airways Co. (NASDAQ:JBLU) by 18.6% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 87,295 shares of the transportation company’s stock after selling 19,951 shares during the quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC’s holdings in JetBlue Airways were worth $686,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Entropy Technologies LP purchased a new stake in JetBlue Airways in the fourth quarter worth approximately $787,000. Maverick Capital Ltd. lifted its holdings in shares of JetBlue Airways by 136.1% during the 3rd quarter. Maverick Capital Ltd. now owns 245,657 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $1,612,000 after buying an additional 141,605 shares during the period. Empowered Funds LLC boosted its position in JetBlue Airways by 8.3% in the fourth quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 1,396,530 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $10,977,000 after purchasing an additional 107,293 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its position in JetBlue Airways by 13.3% during the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 5,661,742 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $37,141,000 after buying an additional 663,865 shares during the period. Finally, Wealthfront Advisers LLC bought a new stake in shares of JetBlue Airways during the 4th quarter valued at $421,000. 83.71% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In related news, CFO Ursula L. Hurley sold 15,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $7.50, for a total transaction of $112,500.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 41,833 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $313,747.50. This represents a 26.39 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, Director Nik Mittal acquired 100,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 4th. The shares were acquired at an average price of $6.14 per share, with a total value of $614,000.00. Following the acquisition, the director now owns 116,443 shares in the company, valued at approximately $714,960.02. The trade was a 608.16 % increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Insiders own 1.18% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on JBLU. Bank of America reaffirmed an “underperform” rating and issued a $6.50 price objective on shares of JetBlue Airways in a research note on Friday, January 17th. Susquehanna decreased their target price on shares of JetBlue Airways from $8.00 to $6.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, February 4th. Morgan Stanley reaffirmed an “equal weight” rating and set a $8.00 price objective on shares of JetBlue Airways in a research note on Wednesday, December 11th. UBS Group dropped their target price on JetBlue Airways from $5.50 to $5.00 and set a “sell” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, January 29th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lowered JetBlue Airways from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and reduced their target price for the stock from $9.00 to $7.00 in a research note on Tuesday, March 4th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and eight have given a hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $6.33.

JetBlue Airways Price Performance

JBLU opened at $5.21 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $1.84 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -2.23 and a beta of 1.80. The company has a current ratio of 1.10, a quick ratio of 1.18 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.08. JetBlue Airways Co. has a 12-month low of $4.50 and a 12-month high of $8.31. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $6.40 and its 200-day simple moving average is $6.64.

JetBlue Airways (NASDAQ:JBLU) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, January 28th. The transportation company reported ($0.21) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of ($0.42) by $0.21. JetBlue Airways had a negative net margin of 8.57% and a negative return on equity of 9.31%. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted ($0.19) EPS. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that JetBlue Airways Co. will post -0.69 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

JetBlue Airways 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.