Short Interest in Tripadvisor, Inc. (NASDAQ:TRIP) Expands By 26.1%

Tripadvisor, Inc. (NASDAQ:TRIP) was the target of a large growth in short interest during the month of September. As of September 30th, there was short interest totalling 9,370,000 shares, a growth of 26.1% from the September 15th total of 7,430,000 shares. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 2,100,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 4.5 days. Currently, 9.1% of the shares of the stock are short sold.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Tripadvisor

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of TRIP. Boston Partners purchased a new position in Tripadvisor in the 1st quarter worth approximately $131,887,000. Pacer Advisors Inc. purchased a new position in Tripadvisor in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $33,731,000. Jupiter Asset Management Ltd. boosted its holdings in Tripadvisor by 1,150.2% in the 2nd quarter. Jupiter Asset Management Ltd. now owns 1,684,505 shares of the travel company’s stock worth $30,001,000 after acquiring an additional 1,549,761 shares during the period. AQR Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in Tripadvisor by 53.0% in the 2nd quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 2,375,868 shares of the travel company’s stock worth $41,364,000 after acquiring an additional 822,712 shares during the period. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in Tripadvisor by 6.6% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 12,876,614 shares of the travel company’s stock worth $277,233,000 after acquiring an additional 791,940 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 98.99% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

TRIP has been the subject of several analyst reports. Cantor Fitzgerald reissued an “underweight” rating and issued a $12.00 target price on shares of Tripadvisor in a research note on Monday, October 7th. BTIG Research cut their target price on shares of Tripadvisor from $25.00 to $20.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, August 7th. Truist Financial cut their target price on shares of Tripadvisor from $21.00 to $17.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, September 4th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their target price on shares of Tripadvisor from $17.00 to $14.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, August 7th. Finally, Wedbush reissued a “neutral” rating and issued a $21.00 target price on shares of Tripadvisor in a research note on Wednesday, August 7th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have issued a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $18.33.

Tripadvisor Trading Up 2.6 %

Shares of NASDAQ:TRIP traded up $0.38 during trading on Tuesday, reaching $15.13. 545,637 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,349,790. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.04, a quick ratio of 1.68 and a current ratio of 1.68. Tripadvisor has a 12-month low of $12.93 and a 12-month high of $28.76. The firm has a market cap of $2.10 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 98.33, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.15 and a beta of 1.39. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $14.22 and its 200 day moving average price is $18.30.

Tripadvisor (NASDAQ:TRIP) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, August 6th. The travel company reported $0.39 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.37 by $0.02. Tripadvisor had a return on equity of 11.81% and a net margin of 1.32%. The business had revenue of $497.00 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $504.76 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.21 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up .6% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Tripadvisor will post 0.37 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

About Tripadvisor

TripAdvisor, Inc operates as an online travel company, primarily engages in the provision of travel guidance products and services worldwide. The company operates in three segments: Brand Tripadvisor, Viator, and TheFork. The Brand Tripadvisor segment offers travel guidance platforms for travelers to discover, generate, and share authentic user-generated content in the form of ratings and reviews for destinations, points-of-interest, experiences, accommodations, restaurants, and cruises.