Afya Limited (NASDAQ:AFYA) Sees Significant Increase in Short Interest

Afya Limited (NASDAQ:AFYA) was the target of a significant increase in short interest in the month of January. As of January 15th, there was short interest totalling 1,240,000 shares, an increase of 8.8% from the December 31st total of 1,140,000 shares. Approximately 9.2% of the company’s stock are sold short. Based on an average trading volume of 119,500 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 10.4 days.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts recently commented on AFYA shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price objective on shares of Afya from $25.00 to $20.50 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, January 17th. The Goldman Sachs Group started coverage on shares of Afya in a report on Tuesday, December 3rd. They set a “sell” rating and a $16.00 price objective on the stock. Finally, Citigroup restated a “sell” rating and set a $15.00 price objective (down from $18.00) on shares of Afya in a report on Friday. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and three have issued a hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $18.00.

Afya Stock Down 4.1 %

Afya stock opened at $16.15 on Monday. The company has a market cap of $1.51 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.02, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.27 and a beta of 0.89. Afya has a 1-year low of $14.52 and a 1-year high of $22.24. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $15.82 and a 200 day simple moving average of $16.64. The company has a current ratio of 1.60, a quick ratio of 1.60 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.51.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Millennium Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Afya by 45.0% during the 2nd quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 291,164 shares of the company’s stock worth $5,139,000 after buying an additional 90,383 shares during the period. State Street Corp boosted its holdings in shares of Afya by 118.2% during 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 during the period. Point72 Asset Management L.P. bought a new stake in shares of Afya during the 3rd quarter worth about $842,000. Erste Asset Management GmbH bought a new stake in shares of Afya during the 3rd quarter worth about $822,000. Finally, Cubist Systematic Strategies LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Afya by 136.9% during the 2nd quarter. Cubist Systematic Strategies LLC now owns 35,254 shares of the company’s stock worth $622,000 after buying an additional 20,370 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 88.02% of the company’s stock.

About Afya

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.