Vanguard Group Inc. Increases Holdings in JetBlue Airways Co. (NASDAQ:JBLU)

Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in JetBlue Airways Co. (NASDAQ:JBLU) by 0.4% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 32,410,772 shares of the transportation company’s stock after purchasing an additional 121,267 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. owned approximately 9.34% of JetBlue Airways worth $254,749,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Glenmede Trust Co. NA bought a new position in JetBlue Airways in the 3rd quarter worth $66,000. Rockefeller Capital Management L.P. purchased a new position in shares of JetBlue Airways during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $2,809,000. HighTower Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of JetBlue Airways by 399.6% in the 3rd quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC now owns 107,246 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $704,000 after acquiring an additional 85,781 shares in the last quarter. Point72 DIFC Ltd boosted its position in shares of JetBlue Airways by 524.8% during the third quarter. Point72 DIFC Ltd now owns 49,639 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $326,000 after purchasing an additional 41,694 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Quadrature Capital Ltd bought a new stake in shares of JetBlue Airways during the 3rd quarter valued at $1,440,000. Institutional investors own 83.71% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CFO Ursula L. Hurley sold 15,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $7.50, for a total value of $112,500.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 41,833 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $313,747.50. This trade represents a 26.39 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director Nik Mittal bought 100,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 4th. The shares were bought at an average price of $6.14 per share, for a total transaction of $614,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 116,443 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $714,960.02. This represents 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.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts recently issued reports on JBLU shares. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft cut shares of JetBlue Airways from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and lowered their price target for the company from $9.00 to $7.00 in a research report on Tuesday, March 4th. UBS Group dropped their target price on JetBlue Airways from $5.50 to $5.00 and set a “sell” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, January 29th. Bank of America lowered their price target on JetBlue Airways from $5.25 to $4.25 and set an “underperform” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday. Morgan Stanley reissued an “equal weight” rating and set a $8.00 price objective on shares of JetBlue Airways in a research report on Wednesday, December 11th. Finally, Susquehanna decreased their target price on shares of JetBlue Airways from $8.00 to $6.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, February 4th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and eight have assigned a hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, JetBlue Airways currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $6.12.

JetBlue Airways Stock Down 5.5 %

JetBlue Airways stock opened at $3.94 on Friday. JetBlue Airways Co. has a one year low of $3.62 and a one year high of $8.31. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $6.07 and a 200 day moving average of $6.60. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.08, a quick ratio of 1.18 and a current ratio of 1.10. The stock has a market cap of $1.39 billion, a PE ratio of -1.68 and a beta of 1.80.

JetBlue Airways (NASDAQ:JBLU) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, January 28th. The transportation company reported ($0.21) EPS for the quarter, beating 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 last year, the company posted ($0.19) earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that JetBlue Airways Co. will post -0.69 EPS for the current 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.