Coupang, Inc. (NYSE:CPNG) Short Interest Up 7.3% in January

Coupang, Inc. (NYSE:CPNG) was the recipient of a significant growth in short interest in the month of January. As of January 15th, there was short interest totalling 14,760,000 shares, a growth of 7.3% from the December 31st total of 13,750,000 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 7,620,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 1.9 days. Approximately 1.2% of the shares of the stock are sold short.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

CPNG has been the topic of a number of research reports. Sanford C. Bernstein upgraded Coupang from an “underperform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $30.00 target price on the stock in a report on Monday, October 7th. Citigroup decreased their price objective on shares of Coupang from $31.00 to $28.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, January 8th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $27.56.

Coupang Stock Performance

Coupang stock traded up $0.29 on Tuesday, reaching $23.87. 1,057,256 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 5,923,406. The company has a current ratio of 1.13, a quick ratio of 0.86 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.28. Coupang has a twelve month low of $13.66 and a twelve month high of $26.91. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $23.07 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $23.43. The stock has a market cap of $42.93 billion, a PE ratio of 41.87, a PEG ratio of 42.58 and a beta of 1.11.

Coupang (NYSE:CPNG) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, November 5th. The company reported $0.06 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.01 by $0.05. The business had revenue of $7.87 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $7.76 billion. Coupang had a return on equity of 11.52% and a net margin of 3.57%. The firm’s revenue was up 27.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $0.05 EPS. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Coupang will post 0.14 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Coupang

In other news, CEO Bom Kim sold 15,000,000 shares of Coupang stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $22.97, for a total value of $344,550,000.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,000,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $45,940,000. This trade represents a 88.24 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, Director Greenoaks Capital Partners Llc bought 750,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, November 8th. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $24.01 per share, for a total transaction of $18,007,500.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the director now owns 52,038,723 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,249,449,739.23. This trade represents a 1.46 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. 13.60% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of large investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. FMR LLC increased its stake in Coupang by 32.0% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 27,153,608 shares of the company’s stock valued at $666,621,000 after acquiring an additional 6,584,910 shares during the period. State Street Corp raised its position in Coupang by 1.9% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 14,125,599 shares of the company’s stock worth $346,783,000 after purchasing an additional 259,400 shares in the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its stake in Coupang by 43.2% during the third quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 8,630,058 shares of the company’s stock worth $211,868,000 after purchasing an additional 2,603,046 shares during the period. Coronation Fund Managers Ltd. boosted its holdings in Coupang by 53.3% during the fourth quarter. Coronation Fund Managers Ltd. now owns 7,383,611 shares of the company’s stock valued at $162,292,000 after purchasing an additional 2,566,581 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Coupang by 0.5% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 5,885,243 shares of the company’s stock valued at $144,483,000 after purchasing an additional 29,164 shares during the period. 83.72% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Coupang Company Profile

Coupang, Inc, together with its subsidiaries owns and operates retail business through its mobile applications and Internet websites primarily in South Korea. The company operates through Product Commerce and Developing Offerings segments. It sells various products and services in the categories of home goods and décor products, apparel, beauty products, fresh food and groceries, sporting goods, electronics, and everyday consumables, as well as travel, and restaurant order and delivery services.