Zacks Investment Research Downgrades Afya (NASDAQ:AFYA) to Hold

Zacks Investment Research downgraded shares of Afya (NASDAQ:AFYA – Get Rating) from a buy rating to a hold rating in a research note issued to investors on Friday morning, Zacks.com reports.

According to Zacks, “Afya Limited is a medical education group primarily in Brazil. Afya Limited is based in NEW YORK. “

AFYA has been the topic of a number of other reports. UBS Group dropped their price target on shares of Afya from $27.00 to $21.00 and set a buy rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, March 7th. Credit Suisse Group upgraded shares of Afya from a neutral rating to an outperform rating and boosted their price target for the stock from $18.00 to $19.00 in a research note on Friday, April 8th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of Buy and a consensus target price of $20.88.

Shares of NASDAQ:AFYA traded down $0.84 on Friday, reaching $13.29. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 126,084 shares, compared to its average volume of 212,491. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $13.90 and its two-hundred day moving average is $14.36. Afya has a 52-week low of $11.67 and a 52-week high of $28.23. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.42, a current ratio of 1.57 and a quick ratio of 1.56. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.24 billion, a P/E ratio of 30.21, a PEG ratio of 0.79 and a beta of 1.08.

Afya (NASDAQ:AFYA – Get Rating) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, March 31st. The company reported $0.09 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.11 by ($0.02). Afya had a net margin of 12.94% and a return on equity of 7.32%. The business had revenue of $89.29 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $94.35 million. Equities analysts forecast that Afya will post 0.77 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the company. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC raised its position in shares of Afya by 93.7% during the 1st quarter. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC now owns 2,042 shares of the company’s stock worth $29,000 after purchasing an additional 988 shares during the last quarter. Davy Global Fund Management Ltd acquired a new position in shares of Afya during the 1st quarter worth approximately $147,000. Trexquant Investment LP acquired a new position in shares of Afya during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $213,000. Millennium Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Afya during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $233,000. Finally, Citadel Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Afya during the 4th quarter worth approximately $268,000. 57.03% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Afya Company Profile (Get Rating)

Afya Limited, through its subsidiaries, operates as a medical education group in Brazil. The company provides educational products and services, including medical schools, medical residency preparatory courses, graduate courses, and other programs to lifelong medical learners enrolled across its distribution network, as well as to third-party medical schools.

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