Azul S.A. (NYSE:AZUL) Sees Significant Growth in Short Interest

Azul S.A. (NYSE:AZUL) saw a large growth in short interest in June. As of June 30th, there was short interest totalling 7,660,000 shares, a growth of 27.9% from the June 15th total of 5,990,000 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 1,960,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 3.9 days.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Inspire Advisors LLC grew its stake in Azul by 19.4% during the 1st quarter. Inspire Advisors LLC now owns 18,699 shares of the company’s stock worth $145,000 after buying an additional 3,042 shares during the last quarter. Coronation Fund Managers Ltd. boosted its stake in shares of Azul by 16.0% in the first quarter. Coronation Fund Managers Ltd. now owns 24,961 shares of the company’s stock valued at $194,000 after buying an additional 3,450 shares in the last quarter. Aigen Investment Management LP purchased a new stake in shares of Azul in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $214,000. Quantbot Technologies LP boosted its stake in shares of Azul by 310.0% in the first quarter. Quantbot Technologies LP now owns 31,813 shares of the company’s stock valued at $247,000 after buying an additional 24,054 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Dynamic Technology Lab Private Ltd boosted its stake in shares of Azul by 46.4% in the fourth quarter. Dynamic Technology Lab Private Ltd now owns 68,004 shares of the company’s stock valued at $659,000 after buying an additional 21,549 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 0.82% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

AZUL has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. Bank of America reaffirmed an “underperform” rating and issued a $9.50 price target (down previously from $18.00) on shares of Azul in a research report on Thursday, April 18th. Raymond James reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $12.00 price target (down previously from $13.00) on shares of Azul in a research report on Monday, April 15th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered Azul from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday. Morgan Stanley initiated coverage on Azul in a research report on Friday, May 24th. They issued an “equal weight” rating and a $7.40 price target on the stock. Finally, Barclays reduced their price target on Azul from $12.00 to $10.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, May 15th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $11.12.

Azul Price Performance

Shares of NYSE AZUL opened at $4.86 on Friday. Azul has a fifty-two week low of $3.70 and a fifty-two week high of $12.16. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $5.21 and its 200-day simple moving average is $6.79.

Azul (NYSE:AZUL) last issued its earnings results on Monday, May 13th. The company reported ($0.57) earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($0.53) by ($0.04). The firm had revenue of $945.00 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $968.17 million. As a group, research analysts predict that Azul will post -0.81 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Azul Company Profile

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.