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

Groupon, Inc. (NASDAQ:GRPN) was the recipient of a large decrease in short interest in August. As of August 31st, there was short interest totalling 6,780,000 shares, a decrease of 5.8% from the August 15th total of 7,200,000 shares. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 1,190,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 5.7 days. Approximately 32.2% of the company’s shares are short sold.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Jason Harinstein bought 15,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, August 8th. The stock was bought at an average cost of $10.61 per share, with a total value of $159,150.00. Following the purchase, the director now owns 55,658 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $590,531.38. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. In other Groupon news, Director Robert J. Bass sold 4,583 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, August 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $11.35, for a total transaction of $52,017.05. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 104,731 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,188,696.85. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, Director Jason Harinstein purchased 15,000 shares of Groupon stock in a transaction dated Thursday, August 8th. The stock was bought at an average price of $10.61 per share, for a total transaction of $159,150.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 55,658 shares in the company, valued at $590,531.38. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Company insiders own 35.70% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Groupon

Institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Pale Fire Capital SE raised its position in Groupon by 4.8% in the 4th quarter. Pale Fire Capital SE now owns 7,040,410 shares of the coupon company’s stock valued at $90,399,000 after buying an additional 323,344 shares during the last quarter. Jupiter Asset Management Ltd. bought a new stake in Groupon during the 1st quarter worth about $437,000. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. grew its holdings in shares of Groupon by 259.3% in the 2nd quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 191,514 shares of the coupon company’s stock valued at $2,930,000 after acquiring an additional 138,218 shares in the last quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. increased its position in shares of Groupon by 41.8% in the first quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 59,163 shares of the coupon company’s stock valued at $789,000 after acquiring an additional 17,440 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Swiss National Bank acquired a new position in Groupon during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $475,000. 90.05% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have issued reports on GRPN. Northland Securities reduced their target price on Groupon from $22.00 to $20.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, July 31st. Roth Mkm reduced their price objective on shares of Groupon from $28.00 to $26.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, July 31st. Finally, Northland Capmk raised shares of Groupon to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 10th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has assigned a hold rating, two have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $17.83.

Groupon Trading Up 4.6 %

NASDAQ GRPN opened at $12.40 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 5.62, a current ratio of 0.94 and a quick ratio of 0.94. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $13.77 and its 200-day moving average is $14.00. Groupon has a one year low of $8.08 and a one year high of $19.56. The firm has a market cap of $490.31 million, a P/E ratio of -9.61 and a beta of 1.80.

Groupon (NASDAQ:GRPN) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 30th. The coupon company reported ($0.15) earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.25) by $0.10. The company had revenue of $124.62 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $121.70 million. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted ($0.30) EPS. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Groupon will post 0.04 earnings per share for the current fiscal 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.