JPMorgan Chase & Co. has downgraded the airline company to a “neutral” rating
JetBlue Airways has been downgraded by JPMorgan Chase & Co. from its original “overweight” rating to a “neutral” level. The note was issued directly to investors on Tuesday.
Shares for the company opened on NASDAQ today at 26.86, with a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.12, compared to the company’s market cap of $8.46 billion. JetBlue Airways also reported earning $1.61 billion during the first quarter. Last year, the company posted $0.19 earnings per share and financial analysts now believe the company will post $1.89 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.
JetBlue Airways CEO Robin Hayes has reportedly sold 5,000 shares of stock in a transaction that occurred on the 5th of October, this year. This was sold at an average price of $26.51, leading to a total value of $132,550.
Furthermore, director Joel Clinton Peterson has also sold 3,295 shares of JetBlue Airways stock in a transaction which happened earlier this year, on July 23rd. Reaching a total value of $79,211.80, the stock was sold at an average price of $24.04.
On Monday, the company has released its results for operational performance for the month of September. According to their report, there has been an increase in traffic and capacity since September 2014.
This was determined by taking into account Revenue Passenger Miles, which have reportedly increased by 13.1% during the course of the past year, from 2.7 billion in 2014 to 3.1 billion of September this year. Despite the fact that JetBlue Airways has been downgraded by JPMorgan, this 13.1% increase in September traffic came as good news for the company, optimistic about future business ventures.
Ever since last year, the airline company has also added to its capacity and it has increased its average stage length by 1.2%. The latter is a measure of the average length of flights for any given airliner. Usually, longer flights mean lower costs for the airline company.
JetBlue is currently the fifth largest airliner in the United States. Headquartered in New York City, with its main base at John F. Kennedy International Airport, the company offers low-cost flights to customers. It provides services throughout the Caribbean, North America and Latin America.
The company serves about 87 BlueCities in 27 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, the United States Virgin Islands, as well as 17 countries in the Caribbean and Latin America. It was founded in 1998 and has increasingly grown in popularity ever since, reporting an annual revenue of over $5.8 billion and employing more than 17,000 people.
Photo Credits: Wikimedia
