Afya (NASDAQ:AFYA) Sees Strong Trading Volume – Should You Buy?

Afya Limited (NASDAQ:AFYA) shares saw an uptick in trading volume on Monday. 346,375 shares were traded during mid-day trading, an increase of 90% from the average daily volume of 182,672 shares. The stock last traded at $10.91 and had previously closed at $10.45.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms recently issued reports on AFYA. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded Afya from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and decreased their price objective for the stock from $21.00 to $19.00 in a report on Wednesday, October 7th. Weiss Ratings downgraded shares of Afya from a “hold (c-)” rating to a “sell (d+)” rating in a research note on Thursday. Zacks Research raised Afya from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, October 5th. Wall Street Zen downgraded Afya from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday. Finally, Bank of America raised shares of Afya from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $16.00 price target on the stock in a research report on Thursday. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, three have assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $17.00.

Afya Stock Performance

The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $13.63 and a 200-day simple moving average of $14.20. The stock has a market cap of $994.93 million, a P/E ratio of 6.48, a PEG ratio of 1.64 and a beta of 0.43. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.39, a current ratio of 2.20 and a quick ratio of 2.20.

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

Insider Transactions at Afya

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

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A hedge fund recently bought a new position in Afya stock. Engineers Gate Manager LP purchased a new stake in Afya Limited (NASDAQ:AFYA) during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund purchased 21,882 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $325,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 88.02% of the company’s stock.

Afya Company Profile

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.