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

JetBlue Airways Corporation (NASDAQ:JBLU) was the target of unusually large options trading activity on Friday. Stock investors bought 34,124 call options on the company. This represents an increase of 43% compared to the average volume of 23,856 call options.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in JBLU. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of JetBlue Airways by 1.7% during the second quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 7,745,777 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $32,770,000 after acquiring an additional 128,622 shares in the last quarter. Par Capital Management Inc. raised its holdings in JetBlue Airways by 105.3% in the second quarter. Par Capital Management Inc. now owns 5,487,425 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $23,212,000 after buying an additional 2,814,870 shares during the last quarter. U S Global Investors Inc. lifted its stake in shares of JetBlue Airways by 25.2% in the second quarter. U S Global Investors Inc. now owns 5,021,419 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $21,241,000 after buying an additional 1,011,279 shares in the last quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of JetBlue Airways by 6.1% during the first quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 4,789,448 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $23,085,000 after buying an additional 274,892 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Invesco Ltd. increased its position in shares of JetBlue Airways by 10.1% during the second quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 4,513,312 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $19,091,000 after acquiring an additional 412,921 shares in the last quarter. 83.71% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

JetBlue Airways Stock Up 5.0%

JBLU traded up $0.31 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $6.35. 11,381,962 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 22,170,227. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $4.96 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $4.79. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.31 billion, a PE ratio of -3.81 and a beta of 1.78. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.42, a quick ratio of 0.77 and a current ratio of 0.82. JetBlue Airways has a 1 year low of $3.34 and a 1 year high of $7.83.

JetBlue Airways (NASDAQ:JBLU) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, January 27th. The transportation company reported ($0.49) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($0.45) by ($0.04). The business had revenue of $2.24 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.22 billion. JetBlue Airways had a negative net margin of 6.64% and a negative return on equity of 24.93%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 1.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned ($0.21) earnings per share. As a group, research analysts anticipate that JetBlue Airways will post -0.69 EPS for the current year.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on JBLU. Evercore ISI upped their target price on shares of JetBlue Airways from $5.00 to $6.00 and gave the stock an “in-line” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 29th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on shares of JetBlue Airways from $5.00 to $6.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 28th. Weiss Ratings reissued a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of JetBlue Airways in a research report on Thursday, January 22nd. TD Cowen lifted their target price on shares of JetBlue Airways from $4.00 to $5.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 7th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group increased their price objective on shares of JetBlue Airways from $3.50 to $4.00 and gave the stock a “sell” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 13th. Eight equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Hold rating and five have assigned a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Reduce” and an average target price of $5.27.

About JetBlue Airways

JetBlue Airways Corporation is a low-cost scheduled passenger airline headquartered in Long Island City, New York. Since commencing service in 2000, the carrier has built a reputation for combining competitive fares with enhanced onboard amenities, including free in-flight entertainment, complimentary snacks and beverages, and onboard Wi-Fi. JetBlue operates a single fleet type of Airbus A320 family and Embraer 190 aircraft, which supports its focus on efficiency and operational consistency.

The airline’s core offerings include economy-class travel and a premium business-class product known as Mint, which features lie-flat seats, curated culinary options and elevated service on select transcontinental and international routes.