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

Despegar.com, Corp. (NYSE:DESP) was the target of a significant increase in short interest in June. As of June 15th, there was short interest totalling 722,500 shares, an increase of 115.2% from the May 31st total of 335,700 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 1,120,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 0.6 days. Currently, 1.3% of the company’s stock are short sold.

Despegar.com Trading Up 0.5 %

DESP stock opened at $13.23 on Friday. The business’s 50 day moving average is $13.58 and its 200-day moving average is $11.18. Despegar.com has a 1-year low of $6.09 and a 1-year high of $15.82.

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

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Despegar.com

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in DESP. TimesSquare Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in Despegar.com by 27.5% in the fourth quarter. TimesSquare Capital Management LLC now owns 396,400 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,750,000 after buying an additional 85,600 shares during the period. Baader Bank Aktiengesellschaft acquired a new position in Despegar.com during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $189,000. Tucker Asset Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Despegar.com in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $40,000. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Despegar.com in the 4th quarter valued at about $6,622,000. Finally, BNP Paribas Financial Markets grew its holdings in Despegar.com by 405,440.0% during the fourth quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 121,662 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,151,000 after purchasing an additional 121,632 shares during the period. 67.93% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages have commented on DESP. B. Riley lifted their price objective on Despegar.com from $16.00 to $19.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, May 17th. Citigroup reiterated a “neutral” rating and set a $14.50 price target (up from $11.50) on shares of Despegar.com in a report on Monday, April 29th. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald raised their price objective on shares of Despegar.com from $14.00 to $17.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, May 17th.

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.