Stock Traders Buy Large Volume of Call Options on JetBlue Airways (NASDAQ:JBLU)

JetBlue Airways Co. (NASDAQ:JBLU) was the target of some unusual options trading activity on Wednesday. Stock investors bought 66,002 call options on the company. This is an increase of approximately 158% compared to the average volume of 25,570 call options.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director Nik Mittal acquired 100,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 4th. The stock was bought at an average cost of $6.14 per share, with a total value of $614,000.00. Following the acquisition, the director now directly owns 116,443 shares in the company, valued at approximately $714,960.02. The trade was a 608.16 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CFO Ursula L. Hurley sold 15,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $7.50, for a total value of $112,500.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 41,833 shares in the company, valued at approximately $313,747.50. This represents a 26.39 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 1.18% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of JetBlue Airways

Several institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of JBLU. Blue Trust Inc. raised its position in shares of JetBlue Airways by 130.8% in the 4th quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 4,478 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $35,000 after acquiring an additional 2,538 shares in the last quarter. C2P Capital Advisory Group LLC d.b.a. Prosperity Capital Advisors acquired a new stake in JetBlue Airways during the fourth quarter worth approximately $40,000. Patriot Financial Group Insurance Agency LLC bought a new stake in JetBlue Airways in the first quarter worth approximately $53,000. Bogart Wealth LLC lifted its stake in JetBlue Airways by 67.8% in the fourth quarter. Bogart Wealth LLC now owns 7,055 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $55,000 after buying an additional 2,850 shares during the period. Finally, R Squared Ltd bought a new position in shares of JetBlue Airways during the 4th quarter worth approximately $58,000. Institutional investors own 83.71% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

JBLU has been the subject of a number of research reports. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lowered JetBlue Airways from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and decreased their price target for the company from $9.00 to $7.00 in a research note on Tuesday, March 4th. Raymond James raised JetBlue Airways from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $5.00 target price on the stock in a report on Monday, April 7th. Seaport Res Ptn downgraded shares of JetBlue Airways from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 28th. Citigroup reduced their price objective on shares of JetBlue Airways from $7.15 to $4.25 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, April 11th. Finally, Susquehanna cut their target price on shares of JetBlue Airways from $6.00 to $4.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, April 7th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and one has assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, JetBlue Airways currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $5.09.

JetBlue Airways Trading Up 0.5 %

Shares of JetBlue Airways stock opened at $4.38 on Friday. JetBlue Airways has a 1 year low of $3.34 and a 1 year high of $8.31. The company has a market capitalization of $1.55 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -1.87 and a beta of 1.69. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $4.88 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $6.22. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.08, a current ratio of 1.10 and a quick ratio of 1.18.

JetBlue Airways (NASDAQ:JBLU) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 29th. The transportation company reported ($0.59) earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of ($0.61) by $0.02. The business had revenue of $2.14 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.17 billion. JetBlue Airways had a negative net margin of 8.57% and a negative return on equity of 9.31%. The business’s revenue was down 3.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned ($0.43) EPS. Research analysts forecast that JetBlue Airways will post -0.69 EPS for the current year.

About JetBlue Airways

JetBlue Airways Corporation provides air transportation services. The company operates a fleet of Airbus A321, Airbus A220, Airbus A321neo, Airbus A320 Restyled, Airbus A320, Airbus A321 with Mint, Airbus A321neo with Mint, Airbus A321neoLR with Mint, and Embraer E190 aircraft. It also serves 100 destinations across the United States, the Caribbean and Latin America, Canada, and Europe.