Afya Limited (NASDAQ:AFYA) Receives $17.30 Consensus Target Price from Brokerages

Shares of Afya Limited (NASDAQ:AFYA) have received a consensus rating of “Hold” from the eight ratings firms that are covering the company, MarketBeat reports. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and one has assigned a buy recommendation to the company. The average 1-year price target among brokerages that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $17.30.

Several research firms have weighed in on AFYA. Zacks Research raised Afya from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, March 9th. 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 report on Tuesday, February 24th. UBS Group reissued a “neutral” rating and issued a $16.00 price target (down from $18.00) on shares of Afya in a research report on Friday, January 16th. Weiss Ratings reissued a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Afya in a research report on Wednesday, January 21st. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. reissued a “neutral” rating and issued a $22.00 price target (down from $24.50) on shares of Afya in a research report on Wednesday, January 7th.

Insider Activity at Afya

In other news, CEO Virgilio Deloy Capobian Gibbon sold 20,900 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, April 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $14.94, for a total value of $312,246.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 109,218 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,631,716.92. The trade was a 16.06% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 48,190 shares of company stock valued at $721,821. Insiders own 0.80% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Afya

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in AFYA. Doma Perpetual Capital Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Afya by 50.6% in the 3rd quarter. Doma Perpetual Capital Management LLC now owns 891,639 shares of the company’s stock worth $13,910,000 after purchasing an additional 299,419 shares in the last quarter. SPX Gestao de Recursos Ltda purchased a new position in Afya in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $2,895,000. Swedbank AB raised its holdings in Afya by 170.3% in the 4th quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 189,200 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,916,000 after acquiring an additional 119,200 shares during the last quarter. Jump Financial LLC purchased a new position in Afya in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $731,000. Finally, Qube Research & Technologies Ltd purchased a new position in Afya in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $610,000. 88.02% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Afya Stock Performance

Afya stock opened at $15.00 on Friday. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $14.48 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $14.69. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.21, a quick ratio of 0.98 and a current ratio of 2.20. The stock has a market cap of $1.41 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.27, a PEG ratio of 0.67 and a beta of 0.48. Afya has a fifty-two week low of $13.00 and a fifty-two week high of $19.90.

Afya (NASDAQ:AFYA) last posted 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 business had revenue of $147.08 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $174.74 million. Afya had a return on equity of 18.77% and a net margin of 20.31%. As a group, analysts expect that Afya will post 1.52 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Afya Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared an annual dividend, which was paid on Monday, April 6th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, March 25th were given a $0.656 dividend. This represents a dividend yield of 433.0%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, March 25th. Afya’s payout ratio is currently 45.21%.

Afya Company 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.