Groupon, Inc. (NASDAQ:GRPN) Short Interest Update

Groupon, Inc. (NASDAQ:GRPN) was the recipient of a significant increase in short interest during the month of November. As of November 15th, there was short interest totalling 10,650,000 shares, an increase of 14.4% from the October 31st total of 9,310,000 shares. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 1,410,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 7.6 days. Currently, 48.7% of the company’s stock are short sold.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts have commented on GRPN shares. Roth Mkm reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $26.00 target price on shares of Groupon in a report on Wednesday, October 16th. The Goldman Sachs Group reduced their price objective on Groupon from $11.00 to $8.00 and set a “sell” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, November 14th. Finally, Northland Securities lowered their target price on shares of Groupon from $20.00 to $17.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, November 13th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has issued a hold rating, two have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $17.00.

Institutional Trading of Groupon

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of GRPN. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Groupon by 0.3% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 566,612 shares of the coupon company’s stock valued at $5,542,000 after acquiring an additional 1,498 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC grew its position in Groupon by 112.5% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 5,456 shares of the coupon company’s stock worth $53,000 after acquiring an additional 2,888 shares in the last quarter. Weil Company Inc. raised its holdings in Groupon by 8.5% during the 2nd quarter. Weil Company Inc. now owns 38,291 shares of the coupon company’s stock valued at $586,000 after buying an additional 3,000 shares during the period. MetLife Investment Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Groupon by 129.1% during the 3rd quarter. MetLife Investment Management LLC now owns 13,340 shares of the coupon company’s stock worth $130,000 after purchasing an additional 7,516 shares during the period. Finally, Entropy Technologies LP bought a new position in shares of Groupon during the third quarter valued at approximately $145,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 90.05% of the company’s stock.

Groupon Stock Performance

Shares of GRPN stock traded down $0.04 on Tuesday, reaching $9.51. The stock had a trading volume of 591,950 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,284,246. The stock has a market cap of $378.21 million, a P/E ratio of 18.65 and a beta of 1.72. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 5.66, a quick ratio of 0.93 and a current ratio of 0.93. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $9.99 and a 200 day simple moving average of $12.77. Groupon has a 1 year low of $7.75 and a 1 year high of $19.56.

Groupon (NASDAQ:GRPN) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, November 12th. The coupon company reported $0.33 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of ($0.25) by $0.58. Groupon had a net margin of 3.87% and a return on equity of 91.94%. The business had revenue of $114.48 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $119.02 million. During the same quarter last year, the company posted ($0.22) EPS. Equities research analysts expect that Groupon will post -0.29 EPS for the current year.

About Groupon

Groupon, Inc, together with its subsidiaries, operates a marketplace that connects consumers to merchants. It operates in two segments, North America and International. The company sells goods or services on behalf of third-party merchants. It serves customers through its mobile applications and websites.