Afya Limited (NASDAQ:AFYA) Short Interest Up 9.2% in January

Afya Limited (NASDAQ:AFYA) saw a large increase in short interest in the month of January. As of January 31st, there was short interest totalling 1,430,000 shares, an increase of 9.2% from the January 15th total of 1,310,000 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 110,700 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 12.9 days. Approximately 10.7% of the company’s stock are sold short.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts recently issued reports on AFYA shares. The Goldman Sachs Group initiated coverage on shares of Afya in a research note on Tuesday, December 3rd. They issued a “sell” rating and a $16.00 price target on the stock. Citigroup reiterated a “sell” rating and issued a $15.00 price target (down from $18.00) on shares of Afya in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price objective on shares of Afya from $25.00 to $20.50 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, January 17th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and three have given a hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $18.00.

Afya Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ AFYA opened at $17.68 on Tuesday. The company has a market cap of $1.66 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.26, a P/E/G ratio of 0.28 and a beta of 0.90. Afya has a 52-week low of $14.52 and a 52-week high of $22.24. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $15.86 and its two-hundred day moving average is $16.54. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.51, a quick ratio of 1.60 and a current ratio of 1.60.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Afya

Several large investors have recently bought and sold shares of AFYA. State Street Corp grew its stake in shares of Afya by 118.2% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 73,098 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,248,000 after buying an additional 39,592 shares in the last quarter. Point72 Asset Management L.P. bought a new position in Afya in the 3rd quarter valued at $842,000. Erste Asset Management GmbH bought a new position in shares of Afya in the third quarter worth about $822,000. Quantbot Technologies LP grew its stake in Afya by 73.8% in the third quarter. Quantbot Technologies LP now owns 13,268 shares of the company’s stock worth $226,000 after purchasing an additional 5,636 shares in the last quarter. Finally, DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale bought a new stake in Afya during the 3rd quarter valued at $417,000. Institutional investors own 88.02% of the company’s stock.

Afya Company Profile

Afya Limited, through its subsidiaries, operates as a medical education group in Brazil. The company operates through three segments: Undergrad, Continuing Education, and Digital Services. It offers educational products and services, including medical schools, medical residency preparatory courses, graduate courses, and other programs to lifelong medical learners enrolled across its distribution network, as well as to third-party medical schools.