Afya (NASDAQ:AFYA) Stock Rating Cut to Hold at Wall Street Zen

Wall Street Zen cut shares of Afya (NASDAQ:AFYA) from a buy rating to a hold rating in a research note published on Saturday morning,Wall Street Zen reports.

A number of other research analysts have also weighed in on AFYA. Bank of America raised Afya from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $16.00 price objective for the company in a research report on Thursday. Weiss Ratings cut shares of Afya from a “hold (c-)” rating to a “sell (d+)” rating in a report on Thursday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised Afya from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and lowered their target price for the company from $21.00 to $19.00 in a report on Wednesday, October 7th. Bradesco Corretora raised Afya to an “outperform” rating and set a $17.00 target price on the stock in a report on Thursday, September 24th. Finally, Zacks Research raised Afya from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, October 5th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, three have assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $17.00.

Afya Stock Up 2.8%

Shares of NASDAQ AFYA opened at $10.45 on Friday. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $13.63 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $14.20. The firm has a market capitalization of $979.37 million, a PE ratio of 6.37, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.27 and a beta of 0.34. The company has a current ratio of 2.20, a quick ratio of 2.20 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.39. Afya has a 12 month low of $9.66 and a 12 month high of $16.16.

Afya (NASDAQ:AFYA) last released its quarterly earnings results on Friday, August 14th. The company reported $0.43 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.40 by $0.03. Afya had a net margin of 20.55% and a return on equity of 17.58%. The company had revenue of $187.80 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $189.62 million. Equities analysts expect that Afya will post 1.72 earnings per share for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Afya news, insider Santos Welder Ferreira sold 4,161 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, October 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $13.30, for a total value of $55,341.30. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 35,000 shares in the company, valued at approximately $465,500. This trade represents a 10.63% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Insiders own 0.80% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Afya

An institutional investor recently bought a new stake in Afya stock. Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio acquired a new position in Afya Limited (NASDAQ:AFYA) in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor acquired 4,500 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $67,000. 88.02% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

About Afya

Afya Limited is a medical education and digital health company focused on Brazil. Through its educational platform, the company provides undergraduate medical education, medical residency preparation, specialization and continuing medical education programs, and other learning resources for students and physicians.

Afya also offers digital products and services intended to support healthcare professionals throughout their careers. These include clinical content, study tools, telemedicine and practice-management solutions, and subscription-based applications designed to assist physicians with education, clinical decision-making, and patient care.

The company has expanded through the development and acquisition of medical schools, education businesses, and health technology platforms serving different stages of the medical professional lifecycle.