Azul (NYSE:AZUL) Trading Down 4% – Should You Sell?

Azul S.A. (NYSE:AZUL)’s share price fell 4% during mid-day trading on Friday . The company traded as low as $3.12 and last traded at $3.12. 324,801 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 84% from the average session volume of 2,010,811 shares. The stock had previously closed at $3.25.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on AZUL. Barclays dropped their target price on Azul from $10.00 to $4.50 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, August 19th. The Goldman Sachs Group downgraded Azul from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and decreased their price target for the company from $6.70 to $4.00 in a research note on Monday, September 23rd. Hsbc Global Res upgraded Azul to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, September 5th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. downgraded Azul from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 10th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft decreased their price target on Azul from $8.00 to $6.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, August 13th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $6.59.

Azul Trading Down 3.7 %

The company has a 50 day moving average price of $3.25 and a 200 day moving average price of $4.62. The company has a market capitalization of $1.32 billion, a P/E ratio of -1.28 and a beta of 1.98.

Azul (NYSE:AZUL) last issued its earnings results on Monday, August 12th. The company reported ($1.23) EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($0.60) by ($0.63). The firm had revenue of $800.65 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $791.43 million. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned ($0.81) EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Azul S.A. will post -1.73 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Trading of Azul

Hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. SPX Gestao de Recursos Ltda lifted its holdings in Azul by 13,831.7% during the 2nd quarter. SPX Gestao de Recursos Ltda now owns 292,565 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,170,000 after purchasing an additional 290,465 shares during the last quarter. Long Focus Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in Azul by 106.3% during the 2nd quarter. Long Focus Capital Management LLC now owns 4,454,000 shares of the company’s stock worth $17,816,000 after purchasing an additional 2,295,000 shares during the last quarter. Quantbot Technologies LP lifted its holdings in Azul by 310.0% during the 1st quarter. Quantbot Technologies LP now owns 31,813 shares of the company’s stock worth $247,000 after purchasing an additional 24,054 shares during the last quarter. Marshall Wace LLP lifted its holdings in Azul by 2,466.5% during the 2nd quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 598,670 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,395,000 after purchasing an additional 575,344 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Coronation Fund Managers Ltd. lifted its holdings in Azul by 16.0% during the 1st quarter. Coronation Fund Managers Ltd. now owns 24,961 shares of the company’s stock worth $194,000 after purchasing an additional 3,450 shares during the last quarter. 0.82% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.