Swedbank AB Boosts Stock Position in Afya Limited $AFYA

Swedbank AB lifted its holdings in Afya Limited (NASDAQ:AFYA) by 170.3% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 189,200 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 119,200 shares during the quarter. Swedbank AB’s holdings in Afya were worth $2,916,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of AFYA. Militia Capital Partners LP purchased a new stake in shares of Afya during the second quarter valued at $71,000. Quantbot Technologies LP purchased a new stake in shares of Afya during the second quarter valued at $117,000. Van ECK Associates Corp boosted its stake in shares of Afya by 15.7% during the third quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 10,170 shares of the company’s stock valued at $159,000 after purchasing an additional 1,377 shares during the period. State of Wyoming purchased a new stake in shares of Afya during the second quarter valued at $164,000. Finally, Squarepoint Ops LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Afya during the third quarter valued at $191,000. 88.02% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on AFYA. Zacks Research lowered shares of Afya from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 6th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their target price on shares of Afya from $22.00 to $21.50 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, April 30th. Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Afya from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Saturday, May 2nd. Bank of America lowered shares of Afya from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and lowered their target price for the company from $22.00 to $17.00 in a research note on Tuesday, February 24th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reissued a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Afya in a research note on Monday, April 20th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating and seven have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Afya has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $17.20.

Insider Transactions at Afya

In other Afya news, CEO Virgilio Deloy Capobian Gibbon sold 20,900 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, April 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $14.94, for a total transaction of $312,246.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 109,218 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,631,716.92. This represents a 16.06% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, VP De Sousa Anibal Jose Grifo sold 14,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, April 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $15.41, for a total transaction of $215,740.00. Following the sale, the vice president directly owned 31,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $477,710. The trade was a 31.11% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders sold a total of 123,547 shares of company stock valued at $1,854,920 over the last three months. 0.80% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Afya Stock Performance

AFYA stock opened at $13.75 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.42, a current ratio of 1.78 and a quick ratio of 1.78. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $14.65 and a 200 day moving average price of $14.59. The company has a market capitalization of $1.29 billion, a P/E ratio of 8.99, a PEG ratio of 0.83 and a beta of 0.36. Afya Limited has a 1-year low of $13.00 and a 1-year high of $18.72.

Afya (NASDAQ:AFYA) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, March 11th. The company reported $0.41 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.36 by $0.05. The firm had revenue of $147.08 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $174.74 million. Afya had a return on equity of 17.94% and a net margin of 20.20%. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Afya Limited will post 1.9 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Afya Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed an annual dividend, which was paid on Monday, April 6th. Investors of record on Wednesday, March 25th were issued a $0.656 dividend. This represents a dividend yield of 433.0%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, March 25th. Afya’s payout ratio is presently 43.14%.

Afya Profile

Afya Ltd. operates as a leading provider of medical education and training services in Brazil. The company offers a comprehensive suite of educational programs that span undergraduate medical degrees, residency exam preparation, continuing medical education (CME) and digital learning platforms. Through a network of partner institutions and its own campus operations, Afya supports students at every stage of the medical training continuum, from enrollment in medical schools to ongoing professional development for practicing physicians.

At the core of Afya’s offerings is its undergraduate medical program, delivered through a combination of in-person courses at affiliated campuses and fully digital curricula.