Despegar.com, Corp. (NYSE:DESP) Sees Significant Growth in Short Interest

Despegar.com, Corp. (NYSE:DESP) was the recipient of a large increase in short interest in the month of July. As of July 15th, there was short interest totalling 5,490,000 shares, an increase of 171.8% from the June 30th total of 2,020,000 shares. Currently, 9.9% of the shares of the company are short sold. Based on an average trading volume of 1,180,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 4.7 days.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages recently commented on DESP. Citigroup raised their target price on Despegar.com from $14.50 to $15.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday. Cantor Fitzgerald raised their price objective on Despegar.com from $14.00 to $17.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, May 17th. Finally, B. Riley lifted their price objective on Despegar.com from $16.00 to $19.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, May 17th.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Despegar.com

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Bank of New York Mellon Corp bought a new stake in shares of Despegar.com in the second quarter worth about $2,618,000. LRI Investments LLC bought a new stake in Despegar.com in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $87,000. Coronation Fund Managers Ltd. purchased a new stake in shares of Despegar.com during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $15,680,000. Baader Bank Aktiengesellschaft boosted its position in shares of Despegar.com by 67.4% during the 2nd quarter. Baader Bank Aktiengesellschaft now owns 38,500 shares of the company’s stock valued at $509,000 after acquiring an additional 15,500 shares during the last quarter. Finally, SG Americas Securities LLC purchased a new position in shares of Despegar.com in the second quarter valued at $2,006,000. Institutional investors own 67.93% of the company’s stock.

Despegar.com Trading Up 0.1 %

Despegar.com stock traded up $0.01 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $11.71. The stock had a trading volume of 722,282 shares, compared to its average volume of 877,550. Despegar.com has a one year low of $6.09 and a one year high of $15.82. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $13.82 and its 200 day moving average is $11.66.

Despegar.com (NYSE:DESP) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 16th. The company reported $0.18 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.12 by $0.06. Despegar.com had a negative return on equity of 44.06% and a net margin of 5.41%. The business had revenue of $173.66 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $172.23 million. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Despegar.com will post 0.83 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

About Despegar.com

Despegar.com, Corp., an online travel company, provides a range of travel and travel-related products to leisure and corporate travelers through its websites and mobile applications in Latin America and the United States. The company operates in two segments, Travel Business and Financial Services Business.