Coupang, Inc. (NYSE:CPNG) Sees Significant Growth in Short Interest

Coupang, Inc. (NYSE:CPNG) saw a large increase in short interest during the month of January. As of January 15th, there was short interest totalling 14,760,000 shares, an increase of 7.3% from the December 31st total of 13,750,000 shares. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 7,620,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 1.9 days. Currently, 1.2% of the company’s stock are short sold.

Coupang Stock Up 1.4 %

Shares of CPNG traded up $0.32 during midday trading on Tuesday, reaching $23.90. 451,788 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 5,894,565. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $23.07 and a 200-day moving average price of $23.43. The company has a market cap of $42.99 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 41.93, a P/E/G ratio of 42.58 and a beta of 1.11. Coupang has a 1-year low of $13.66 and a 1-year high of $26.91. 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 (NYSE:CPNG) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, November 5th. The company reported $0.06 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.01 by $0.05. The company had revenue of $7.87 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $7.76 billion. Coupang had a return on equity of 11.52% and a net margin of 3.57%. The business’s revenue was up 27.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $0.05 earnings per share. Research analysts expect that Coupang will post 0.14 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Coupang

In other Coupang news, Director Greenoaks Capital Partners Llc bought 687,700 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred 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 purchase, the director now directly owns 52,726,423 shares in the company, valued at $1,269,652,265.84. The trade was a 1.32 % increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO Bom Kim sold 15,000,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $22.97, for a total transaction of $344,550,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 2,000,000 shares in the company, valued at $45,940,000. This represents a 88.24 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 13.60% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Coupang

Large investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Olympiad Research LP bought a new position in Coupang during the fourth quarter valued at about $314,000. Matauro LLC bought a new position in Coupang in the 4th quarter worth approximately $285,000. Flossbach Von Storch SE raised its position in shares of Coupang by 9.4% during the 4th quarter. Flossbach Von Storch SE now owns 175,000 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,846,000 after acquiring an additional 15,000 shares during the last quarter. Private Advisor Group LLC boosted its stake in Coupang by 37.5% in the 4th quarter. Private Advisor Group LLC now owns 81,551 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,792,000 after purchasing an additional 22,253 shares during the period. Finally, Alberta Investment Management Corp boosted its stake in shares of Coupang by 7.0% during the 4th quarter. Alberta Investment Management Corp now owns 481,908 shares of the company’s stock worth $10,592,000 after buying an additional 31,423 shares during the last quarter. 83.72% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

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

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.