Azul S.A. (NYSE:AZUL) Short Interest Up 32.1% in July

Azul S.A. (NYSE:AZUL) was the recipient of a large increase in short interest in the month of July. As of July 31st, there was short interest totalling 9,310,000 shares, an increase of 32.1% from the July 15th total of 7,050,000 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 1,750,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 5.3 days.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts have weighed in on the stock. Barclays lowered their price target on shares of Azul from $12.00 to $10.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, May 15th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut shares of Azul from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 10th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft decreased their target price on shares of Azul from $8.00 to $6.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday. Finally, Morgan Stanley began coverage on shares of Azul in a research report on Friday, May 24th. They set an “equal weight” rating and a $7.40 target price on the stock. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $10.39.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Azul

Large investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Signaturefd LLC raised its stake in Azul by 35.9% during the second quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 10,649 shares of the company’s stock worth $43,000 after buying an additional 2,812 shares during the last quarter. Inspire Advisors LLC raised its stake in Azul by 20.1% during the second quarter. Inspire Advisors LLC now owns 22,463 shares of the company’s stock worth $90,000 after buying an additional 3,764 shares during the last quarter. Coronation Fund Managers Ltd. raised its stake in Azul by 9.5% during the second quarter. Coronation Fund Managers Ltd. now owns 27,341 shares of the company’s stock worth $109,000 after buying an additional 2,380 shares during the last quarter. Aigen Investment Management LP bought a new position in Azul during the fourth quarter worth $214,000. Finally, Quantbot Technologies LP raised its stake in Azul by 310.0% during the first quarter. Quantbot Technologies LP now owns 31,813 shares of the company’s stock worth $247,000 after buying an additional 24,054 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 0.82% of the company’s stock.

Azul Trading Down 4.0 %

Azul stock traded down $0.17 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $4.07. The company had a trading volume of 1,322,757 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,675,608. Azul has a fifty-two week low of $3.70 and a fifty-two week high of $11.26. The company has a market cap of $1.72 billion, a P/E ratio of -1.67 and a beta of 2.00. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $4.41 and a 200 day simple moving average of $6.04.

Azul (NYSE:AZUL) last issued its earnings results on Monday, August 12th. The company reported ($1.23) earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.60) by ($0.63). The business had revenue of $800.65 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $791.43 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned ($0.81) EPS. Research analysts forecast that Azul will post -1.03 EPS for the current 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.