Afya Limited (NASDAQ:AFYA) Sees Large Growth in Short Interest

Afya Limited (NASDAQ:AFYA) was the recipient of a significant growth in short interest in the month of March. As of March 31st, there was short interest totalling 869,400 shares, a growth of 34.5% from the March 15th total of 646,200 shares. Approximately 4.8% of the company’s shares are sold short. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 132,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 6.6 days.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Afya

Hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Mirabella Financial Services LLP bought a new stake in Afya in the third quarter worth $1,686,000. HBK Sorce Advisory LLC boosted its holdings in Afya by 10.0% in the fourth quarter. HBK Sorce Advisory LLC now owns 11,044 shares of the company’s stock worth $242,000 after acquiring an additional 1,000 shares in the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Services Advisors Inc. bought a new stake in Afya in the third quarter worth $183,000. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Afya by 32.6% during the third quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. now owns 4,145 shares of the company’s stock valued at $65,000 after purchasing an additional 1,020 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Quantbot Technologies LP bought a new position in shares of Afya during the third quarter valued at $118,000. 88.02% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Afya Price Performance

Shares of AFYA stock opened at $16.96 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $1.59 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.72, a PEG ratio of 0.56 and a beta of 0.97. The business’s fifty day moving average is $19.81 and its 200 day moving average is $19.30. Afya has a twelve month low of $10.72 and a twelve month high of $22.48. The company has a quick ratio of 1.14, a current ratio of 1.14 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.45.

Afya (NASDAQ:AFYA) last released its earnings results on Thursday, March 14th. The company reported $0.34 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.32 by $0.02. Afya had a return on equity of 15.88% and a net margin of 13.54%. The business had revenue of $147.35 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $141.83 million. Research analysts expect that Afya will post 1.54 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

AFYA has been the topic of several recent research reports. Citigroup initiated coverage on Afya in a research note on Monday, January 29th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $23.00 price target on the stock. Morgan Stanley cut Afya from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and upped their price target for the stock from $20.50 to $23.00 in a research note on Monday, January 22nd.

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.