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

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

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

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

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CEO Bom Kim sold 15,000,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $22.97, for a total value of $344,550,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,000,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $45,940,000. This represents a 88.24 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, Director Greenoaks Capital Partners Llc acquired 687,700 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, November 11th. The shares were acquired at an average price of $24.08 per share, with a total value of $16,559,816.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 52,726,423 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,269,652,265.84. This trade represents a 1.32 % increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. 13.60% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Coupang

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Amalgamated Bank increased its holdings in shares of Coupang by 8.1% during the 2nd quarter. Amalgamated Bank now owns 78,273 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,640,000 after purchasing an additional 5,875 shares during the period. Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC grew its position in Coupang by 13.0% during the second quarter. Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC now owns 54,764 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,146,000 after buying an additional 6,286 shares in the last quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC increased its stake in Coupang by 28.3% during the second quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC now owns 319,640 shares of the company’s stock valued at $6,685,000 after acquiring an additional 70,562 shares during the period. Benjamin F. Edwards & Company Inc. raised its holdings in Coupang by 360.6% in the 2nd quarter. Benjamin F. Edwards & Company Inc. now owns 4,118 shares of the company’s stock valued at $86,000 after acquiring an additional 3,224 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Sei Investments Co. lifted its position in shares of Coupang by 40.3% in the 2nd quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 1,607,388 shares of the company’s stock worth $33,675,000 after acquiring an additional 461,535 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 83.72% of the company’s stock.

Coupang Stock Performance

NYSE:CPNG traded down $0.24 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $22.09. The stock had a trading volume of 5,495,026 shares, compared to its average volume of 5,054,672. The stock has a market capitalization of $39.73 billion, a P/E ratio of 38.75, a PEG ratio of 34.64 and a beta of 1.10. Coupang has a 1-year low of $13.51 and a 1-year high of $26.91. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.28, a current ratio of 1.13 and a quick ratio of 0.86. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $23.46 and its 200-day simple moving average is $23.30.

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. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Coupang will post 0.11 EPS for the current fiscal year.

About Coupang

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.