Azul Sees Unusually High Options Volume (NYSE:AZUL)

Azul S.A. (NYSE:AZUL) was the target of some unusual options trading activity on Tuesday. Investors acquired 7,813 put options on the stock. This represents an increase of 743% compared to the average volume of 927 put options.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Azul

Large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Aigen Investment Management LP bought a new position in Azul in the fourth quarter valued at $214,000. Schonfeld Strategic Advisors LLC bought a new position in Azul in the third quarter valued at $4,999,000. AXQ Capital LP bought a new position in Azul in the third quarter valued at $205,000. Dynamic Technology Lab Private Ltd grew its position in Azul by 46.4% in the fourth quarter. Dynamic Technology Lab Private Ltd now owns 68,004 shares of the company’s stock valued at $659,000 after purchasing an additional 21,549 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Quantbot Technologies LP grew its position in Azul by 310.0% in the first quarter. Quantbot Technologies LP now owns 31,813 shares of the company’s stock valued at $247,000 after purchasing an additional 24,054 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 0.82% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

AZUL has been the topic of several analyst reports. Morgan Stanley initiated coverage on shares of Azul in a report on Friday, May 24th. They issued an “equal weight” rating and a $7.40 price objective on the stock. Barclays cut their price objective on shares of Azul from $12.00 to $10.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, May 15th. Bank of America restated an “underperform” rating and issued a $9.50 price objective (down from $18.00) on shares of Azul in a report on Thursday, April 18th. Finally, Raymond James reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $12.00 target price (down previously from $13.00) on shares of Azul in a research note on Monday, April 15th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Azul currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $11.12.

Azul Stock Performance

NYSE:AZUL traded down $0.13 during trading hours on Tuesday, hitting $3.74. The stock had a trading volume of 1,731,209 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,625,472. Azul has a one year low of $3.70 and a one year high of $13.86. The company has a market cap of $1.58 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -1.59 and a beta of 2.01. The business’s 50 day moving average is $5.45 and its 200-day moving average is $7.11.

Azul (NYSE:AZUL) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Monday, May 13th. The company reported ($0.57) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($0.53) by ($0.04). The firm had revenue of $945.00 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $968.17 million. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Azul will post -0.81 EPS for the current fiscal year.

About Azul

Azul SA, together with its subsidiaries, provides air transportation services in Brazil and internationally. As of December 31, 2023, the company operated approximately 1,000 daily departures to 160 destinations through a network of 300 non-stop routes with an operating fleet of 183 aircraft and a passenger contractual fleet of 189 aircraft.