Short Interest in Despegar.com, Corp. (NYSE:DESP) Rises By 53.8%

Despegar.com, Corp. (NYSE:DESP) saw a significant increase in short interest during the month of February. As of February 15th, there was short interest totalling 1,630,000 shares, an increase of 53.8% from the January 31st total of 1,060,000 shares. Approximately 2.5% of the company’s shares are sold short. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 1,900,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 0.9 days.

Despegar.com Price Performance

DESP stock traded down $0.05 during trading on Tuesday, reaching $19.23. 2,198,359 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,273,226. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $19.23 and a 200 day simple moving average of $16.02. Despegar.com has a 12 month low of $8.64 and a 12 month high of $19.55.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms have weighed in on DESP. Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on shares of Despegar.com from $17.00 to $21.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, November 29th. TD Cowen upgraded shares of Despegar.com from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, December 24th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Despegar.com presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $17.20.

Institutional Trading of Despegar.com

A number of institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of DESP. Sylebra Capital LLC lifted its position in Despegar.com by 62.8% during the fourth quarter. Sylebra Capital LLC now owns 4,760,433 shares of the company’s stock valued at $91,638,000 after acquiring an additional 1,837,158 shares during the last quarter. Nuveen Asset Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Despegar.com by 428.5% during the 4th quarter. Nuveen Asset Management LLC now owns 2,381,714 shares of the company’s stock valued at $45,848,000 after purchasing an additional 1,931,033 shares during the last quarter. Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. boosted its position in shares of Despegar.com by 1.3% in the 3rd quarter. Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. now owns 2,099,156 shares of the company’s stock worth $26,030,000 after purchasing an additional 26,443 shares in the last quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. grew its stake in Despegar.com by 106.6% during the 4th quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 1,793,424 shares of the company’s stock worth $34,523,000 after buying an additional 925,500 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Woodson Capital Management LP increased its position in Despegar.com by 78.4% during the 3rd quarter. Woodson Capital Management LP now owns 1,426,952 shares of the company’s stock valued at $17,694,000 after buying an additional 626,952 shares in the last quarter. 67.93% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Despegar.com Company Profile

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.