Controladora Vuela Compania de Aviacion (NYSE:VLRS) Hits New 1-Year High on Analyst Upgrade

Shares of Controladora Vuela Compania de Aviacion, S.A.B. de C.V. (NYSE:VLRS) reached a new 52-week high during mid-day trading on Friday after Barclays upgraded the stock from an equal weight rating to an overweight rating. Barclays now has a $11.00 price target on the stock. Controladora Vuela Compania de Aviacion traded as high as $9.99 and last traded at $9.8350, with a volume of 634410 shares trading hands. The stock had previously closed at $8.32.

Other analysts have also recently issued reports about the company. Wall Street Zen upgraded Controladora Vuela Compania de Aviacion from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, September 20th. Citigroup lowered Controladora Vuela Compania de Aviacion from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $7.00 price objective on the stock. in a research report on Friday, August 22nd. Evercore ISI boosted their target price on Controladora Vuela Compania de Aviacion from $9.00 to $12.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, September 29th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “sell (d)” rating on shares of Controladora Vuela Compania de Aviacion in a research note on Wednesday, October 8th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price target on shares of Controladora Vuela Compania de Aviacion from $7.00 to $8.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, September 19th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, three have given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $8.67.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Controladora Vuela Compania de Aviacion

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in VLRS. Ancient Art L.P. raised its holdings in Controladora Vuela Compania de Aviacion by 22.2% in the first quarter. Ancient Art L.P. now owns 1,816,225 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $9,481,000 after purchasing an additional 329,496 shares in the last quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership grew its position in shares of Controladora Vuela Compania de Aviacion by 48.9% in the 3rd quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 1,720,522 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $12,353,000 after buying an additional 565,250 shares during the period. AQR Capital Management LLC grew its position in shares of Controladora Vuela Compania de Aviacion by 322.5% in the 1st quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 1,280,268 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $6,683,000 after buying an additional 977,249 shares during the period. Acadian Asset Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Controladora Vuela Compania de Aviacion by 5.9% in the 1st quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC now owns 1,268,133 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $6,610,000 after acquiring an additional 71,163 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Wellington Management Group LLP purchased a new position in Controladora Vuela Compania de Aviacion during the 1st quarter valued at about $3,312,000. 53.32% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Controladora Vuela Compania de Aviacion Stock Performance

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.73, a quick ratio of 0.66 and a current ratio of 0.67. The business’s 50-day moving average is $7.01 and its 200-day moving average is $6.07. The company has a market capitalization of $1.13 billion, a PE ratio of -17.85 and a beta of 1.95.

Controladora Vuela Compania de Aviacion (NYSE:VLRS) last announced its earnings results on Monday, October 27th. The transportation company reported $0.05 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.03) by $0.08. Controladora Vuela Compania de Aviacion had a negative net margin of 2.07% and a negative return on equity of 20.74%. The business had revenue of $784.00 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $783.85 million. On average, research analysts anticipate that Controladora Vuela Compania de Aviacion, S.A.B. de C.V. will post 1.21 earnings per share for the current year.

About Controladora Vuela Compania de Aviacion

Controladora Vuela Compañía de Aviación, SAB. de C.V., through its subsidiary, Concesionaria Vuela Compañía de Aviación, SAP.I. de C.V., provides air transportation services for passengers, cargo, and mail in Mexico and internationally. The company operates approximately 590 daily flights on routes connecting 43 cities in Mexico, 22 cities in the United States, 4 cities in Central America, and 2 cities in South America.