Azul Sees Unusually High Options Volume (NYSE:AZUL)

Azul S.A. (NYSE:AZUL) was the recipient of unusually large options trading activity on Thursday. Stock investors acquired 4,760 put options on the company. This represents an increase of 163% compared to the average daily volume of 1,810 put options.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Azul

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Two Sigma Investments LP boosted its stake in Azul by 17.1% in the 4th quarter. Two Sigma Investments LP now owns 191,019 shares of the company’s stock worth $319,000 after purchasing an additional 27,949 shares during the period. Kapitalo Investimentos Ltda boosted its stake in shares of Azul by 505.4% during the 4th quarter. Kapitalo Investimentos Ltda now owns 538,861 shares of the company’s stock valued at $900,000 after buying an additional 449,855 shares during the period. Two Sigma Securities LLC boosted its stake in shares of Azul by 44.6% during the 4th quarter. Two Sigma Securities LLC now owns 29,311 shares of the company’s stock valued at $49,000 after buying an additional 9,038 shares during the period. Long Focus Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Azul by 18.0% during the 4th quarter. Long Focus Capital Management LLC now owns 5,932,943 shares of the company’s stock valued at $9,908,000 after buying an additional 905,463 shares during the period. Finally, Marshall Wace LLP acquired a new stake in shares of Azul during the 4th quarter valued at $87,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 0.82% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on AZUL. Raymond James reduced their target price on shares of Azul from $6.00 to $5.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, February 4th. The Goldman Sachs Group reduced their target price on shares of Azul from $3.10 to $2.70 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, January 16th. Finally, Seaport Res Ptn cut shares of Azul from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 26th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $5.40.

Azul Stock Performance

Azul stock opened at $1.76 on Friday. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $2.03 and a 200 day moving average price of $2.45. Azul has a 52 week low of $1.57 and a 52 week high of $8.73. The firm has a market capitalization of $739.86 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -0.25 and a beta of 1.98.

About Azul

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.