Short Interest in Controladora Vuela Compañía de Aviación, S.A.B. de C.V. (NYSE:VLRS) Increases By 99.2%

Controladora Vuela Compañía de Aviación, S.A.B. de C.V. (NYSE:VLRS) saw a significant increase in short interest in the month of February. As of February 28th, there was short interest totalling 915,300 shares, an increase of 99.2% from the February 13th total of 459,600 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 606,600 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 1.5 days. Approximately 1.0% of the company’s shares are sold short.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Controladora Vuela Compañía de Aviación

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC raised its holdings in Controladora Vuela Compañía de Aviación by 34.5% during the fourth quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC now owns 6,396 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $48,000 after purchasing an additional 1,641 shares in the last quarter. Stifel Financial Corp raised its holdings in Controladora Vuela Compañía de Aviación by 9.0% during the third quarter. Stifel Financial Corp now owns 38,092 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $241,000 after purchasing an additional 3,135 shares in the last quarter. R Squared Ltd purchased a new position in Controladora Vuela Compañía de Aviación during the fourth quarter worth about $68,000. Prudential Financial Inc. purchased a new position in Controladora Vuela Compañía de Aviación during the fourth quarter worth about $79,000. Finally, Sei Investments Co. purchased a new position in Controladora Vuela Compañía de Aviación during the fourth quarter worth about $79,000. 53.32% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have issued reports on VLRS. Citigroup cut their target price on Controladora Vuela Compañía de Aviación from $13.00 to $11.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, March 5th. Itau BBA Securities assumed coverage on shares of Controladora Vuela Compañía de Aviación in a research note on Wednesday, February 12th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $12.00 price target for the company. UBS Group boosted their price target on shares of Controladora Vuela Compañía de Aviación from $10.00 to $14.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded shares of Controladora Vuela Compañía de Aviación from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 26th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $12.88.

Controladora Vuela Compañía de Aviación Stock Performance

NYSE VLRS traded up $0.24 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $5.55. The company had a trading volume of 818,864 shares, compared to its average volume of 680,263. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.09, a quick ratio of 0.69 and a current ratio of 0.70. Controladora Vuela Compañía de Aviación has a 1-year low of $5.15 and a 1-year high of $9.57. The company has a market cap of $646.54 million, a PE ratio of 3.34 and a beta of 2.48. The business has a 50 day moving average of $7.59 and a 200-day moving average of $7.31.

Controladora Vuela Compañía de Aviación (NYSE:VLRS) last announced its earnings results on Monday, February 24th. The transportation company reported $0.39 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.55 by ($0.16). Controladora Vuela Compañía de Aviación had a net margin of 5.99% and a return on equity of 71.50%. The business had revenue of $835.00 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $709.48 million. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Controladora Vuela Compañía de Aviación will post 1.21 EPS for the current year.

About Controladora Vuela Compañía de Aviación

Controladora Vuela Compañía de Aviación, SAB. de C.V., through its subsidiary, Concesionaria Vuela Compañía de Aviación, SAP.I. de C.V., provides air transportation services for passengers, cargo, and mail in Mexico and internationally. The company operates approximately 590 daily flights on routes connecting 43 cities in Mexico, 22 cities in the United States, 4 cities in Central America, and 2 cities in South America.