Controladora Vuela Compania de Aviacion (NYSE:VLRS) Stock Price Up 7.1% – Should You Buy?

Controladora Vuela Compania de Aviacion, S.A.B. de C.V. (NYSE:VLRS) traded up 7.1% on Monday. The stock traded as high as $6.77 and last traded at $6.8650. 45,783 shares changed hands during trading, a decline of 93% from the average daily volume of 654,586 shares. The stock had previously closed at $6.41.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

VLRS has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Wall Street Zen raised Controladora Vuela Compania de Aviacion from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Sunday. UBS Group upped their price target on Controladora Vuela Compania de Aviacion from $9.00 to $11.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, August 5th. Weiss Ratings reissued a “sell (e+)” rating on shares of Controladora Vuela Compania de Aviacion in a research report on Thursday. The Goldman Sachs Group lowered their price objective on shares of Controladora Vuela Compania de Aviacion from $8.60 to $7.70 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, August 11th. Finally, Zacks Research lowered shares of Controladora Vuela Compania de Aviacion from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 15th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, three have issued a Hold rating and three have given a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $9.40.

Controladora Vuela Compania de Aviacion Price Performance

The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $6.42 and its 200-day simple moving average is $7.72. The stock has a market cap of $805.11 million, a P/E ratio of -3.60 and a beta of 1.81. The company has a current ratio of 0.67, a quick ratio of 0.66 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 10.31.

Controladora Vuela Compania de Aviacion (NYSE:VLRS) last posted its earnings results on Monday, October 26th. The transportation company reported ($0.23) earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.04) by ($0.19). The business had revenue of $1.04 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $982.29 million. Controladora Vuela Compania de Aviacion had a negative net margin of 6.20% and a negative return on equity of 151.52%. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Controladora Vuela Compania de Aviacion, S.A.B. de C.V. will post -2.45 EPS for the current year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. Confluence Investment Management LLC grew its holdings in Controladora Vuela Compania de Aviacion by 5.6% during the 3rd quarter. Confluence Investment Management LLC now owns 32,386 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $212,000 after acquiring an additional 1,710 shares during the last quarter. WINTON GROUP Ltd acquired a new position in shares of Controladora Vuela Compania de Aviacion during the 2nd quarter worth about $653,000. FNY Investment Advisers LLC bought a new stake in shares of Controladora Vuela Compania de Aviacion in the 2nd quarter valued at about $187,000. GAMMA Investing LLC increased its stake in shares of Controladora Vuela Compania de Aviacion by 238.7% in the 2nd quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 3,265 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $31,000 after acquiring an additional 2,301 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Empowered Funds LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Controladora Vuela Compania de Aviacion in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $1,103,000. 53.32% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

About Controladora Vuela Compania de Aviacion

Controladora Vuela Compañía de Aviación, SAB. de C.V., operating under the Volaris brand, is a Mexican ultra-low-cost airline. The company provides scheduled passenger air transportation, along with ancillary services such as baggage, seat selection and other travel-related offerings.

Volaris began operations in 2006 and serves a broad network of destinations in Mexico, the United States, and Central America. Its business model emphasizes affordable base fares, high aircraft utilization and the separate sale of optional services.

Controladora Vuela is headquartered in Mexico City and is listed on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol VLRS.