Afya (NASDAQ:AFYA) Reaches New 1-Year Low – Time to Sell?

Shares of Afya Limited (NASDAQ:AFYA) hit a new 52-week low during mid-day trading on Thursday. The company traded as low as $9.95 and last traded at $10.15, with a volume of 135,001 shares. The stock had previously closed at $10.24.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

AFYA has been the subject of a number of research reports. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Afya from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Saturday, September 5th. Bradesco Corretora upgraded shares of Afya to an “outperform” rating and set a $17.00 price objective on the stock in a report on Thursday, September 24th. Zacks Research raised shares of Afya from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, October 5th. Weiss Ratings lowered shares of Afya from a “hold (c)” rating to a “hold (c-)” rating in a research report on Friday, July 31st. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised Afya from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and decreased their target price for the stock from $21.00 to $19.00 in a research report on Wednesday, October 7th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and four have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Afya has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $17.00.

Afya Price Performance

The stock has a market cap of $952.69 million, a P/E ratio of 6.19, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.83 and a beta of 0.34. The company has a current ratio of 2.20, a quick ratio of 2.20 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.39. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $13.77 and its 200-day simple moving average is $14.24.

Afya (NASDAQ:AFYA) last released its quarterly earnings data on Friday, August 14th. The company reported $0.43 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.40 by $0.03. Afya had a net margin of 20.55% and a return on equity of 17.58%. The company had revenue of $187.80 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $189.62 million. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Afya Limited will post 1.72 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Afya news, insider Santos Welder Ferreira sold 4,161 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, October 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $13.30, for a total transaction of $55,341.30. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 35,000 shares in the company, valued at $465,500. This trade represents a 10.63% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Afya

An institutional investor recently bought a new position in Afya stock. Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio acquired a new stake in Afya Limited (NASDAQ:AFYA) during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor acquired 4,500 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $67,000. Institutional investors own 88.02% of the company’s stock.

Afya Company Profile

Afya Limited is a medical education and digital health company focused on Brazil. Through its educational platform, the company provides undergraduate medical education, medical residency preparation, specialization and continuing medical education programs, and other learning resources for students and physicians.

Afya also offers digital products and services intended to support healthcare professionals throughout their careers. These include clinical content, study tools, telemedicine and practice-management solutions, and subscription-based applications designed to assist physicians with education, clinical decision-making, and patient care.

The company has expanded through the development and acquisition of medical schools, education businesses, and health technology platforms serving different stages of the medical professional lifecycle.