Matthews International Capital Management LLC Makes New Investment in Despegar.com, Corp. (NYSE:DESP)

Matthews International Capital Management LLC purchased a new stake in Despegar.com, Corp. (NYSE:DESP) during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor purchased 24,959 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $299,000.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. Tucker Asset Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Despegar.com in the fourth quarter valued at about $40,000. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC lifted its holdings in shares of Despegar.com by 83.7% in the fourth quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC now owns 4,617 shares of the company’s stock valued at $44,000 after purchasing an additional 2,104 shares in the last quarter. Counterpoint Mutual Funds LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Despegar.com in the fourth quarter valued at about $99,000. Baader Bank Aktiengesellschaft purchased a new stake in shares of Despegar.com in the fourth quarter valued at about $189,000. Finally, Banco BTG Pactual S.A. purchased a new stake in shares of Despegar.com in the fourth quarter valued at about $194,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 67.93% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Cantor Fitzgerald upped their price objective on shares of Despegar.com from $14.00 to $17.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, May 17th. Citigroup reissued a “neutral” rating and set a $14.50 price objective (up previously from $11.50) on shares of Despegar.com in a research note on Monday, April 29th. Finally, B. Riley upped their price objective on shares of Despegar.com from $16.00 to $19.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, May 17th.

Despegar.com Stock Performance

NYSE:DESP traded down $0.68 during trading hours on Wednesday, reaching $12.50. 1,447,584 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 802,515. Despegar.com, Corp. has a 52-week low of $6.09 and a 52-week high of $15.82. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $13.51 and a 200 day simple moving average of $11.12.

Despegar.com (NYSE:DESP) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 16th. The company reported $0.18 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.12 by $0.06. The company had revenue of $173.66 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $172.23 million. Despegar.com had a net margin of 5.41% and a negative return on equity of 44.06%. Analysts expect that Despegar.com, Corp. will post 0.83 EPS for the current year.

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.