Azul (NYSE:AZUL) Shares Up 7.4%

Azul S.A. (NYSE:AZUL) shares shot up 7.4% during mid-day trading on Friday . The stock traded as high as $6.46 and last traded at $6.35. 651,084 shares were traded during trading, a decline of 58% from the average session volume of 1,561,485 shares. The stock had previously closed at $5.91.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms have recently issued reports on AZUL. Bank of America restated an “underperform” rating and set a $9.50 price objective (down previously from $18.00) on shares of Azul in a report on Thursday, April 18th. Barclays cut their price objective on shares of Azul from $14.00 to $12.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, April 1st. Finally, Raymond James reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $12.00 price target (down previously from $13.00) on shares of Azul in a report on Monday, April 15th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has assigned a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Azul has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $12.26.

Azul Stock Performance

The company’s fifty day moving average is $7.17 and its two-hundred day moving average is $8.27. The company has a market cap of $2.70 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -6.83 and a beta of 1.94.

Azul (NYSE:AZUL) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, March 28th. The company reported ($0.47) EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.22) by ($0.25). The firm had revenue of $1.02 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.02 billion. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Azul S.A. will post -0.75 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Azul

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. U S Global Investors Inc. grew its stake in shares of Azul by 10.4% during the 1st quarter. U S Global Investors Inc. now owns 874,798 shares of the company’s stock worth $6,797,000 after purchasing an additional 82,077 shares during the period. Schonfeld Strategic Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Azul during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $4,999,000. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board purchased a new position in shares of Azul during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $4,712,000. Landscape Capital Management L.L.C. lifted its position in shares of Azul by 151.3% during the 3rd quarter. Landscape Capital Management L.L.C. now owns 146,654 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,260,000 after buying an additional 88,286 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Van ECK Associates Corp lifted its position in shares of Azul by 4.1% during the 3rd quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 76,731 shares of the company’s stock valued at $659,000 after buying an additional 3,005 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 0.82% of the company’s stock.

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.