Investors Buy Large Volume of Call Options on Groupon (NASDAQ:GRPN)

Groupon, Inc. (NASDAQ:GRPN) was the target of unusually large options trading on Friday. Traders bought 11,268 call options on the company. This represents an increase of 42% compared to the typical daily volume of 7,951 call options.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have recently commented on the company. Northland Securities initiated coverage on Groupon in a research note on Wednesday. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $22.00 price objective on the stock. StockNews.com upgraded Groupon from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, March 18th. Roth Mkm restated a “buy” rating and set a $28.00 price target on shares of Groupon in a research note on Tuesday, April 16th. Finally, Northland Capmk upgraded Groupon to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating, two have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $14.30.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Groupon

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of GRPN. Wolf Hill Capital Management LP bought a new position in Groupon during the first quarter worth about $17,897,000. Pale Fire Capital SE boosted its holdings in shares of Groupon by 4.8% during the fourth quarter. Pale Fire Capital SE now owns 7,040,410 shares of the coupon company’s stock worth $90,399,000 after acquiring an additional 323,344 shares during the period. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. bought a new stake in shares of Groupon during the first quarter worth approximately $711,000. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Groupon during the first quarter worth approximately $575,000. Finally, Swiss National Bank bought a new stake in shares of Groupon during the fourth quarter worth approximately $475,000. Institutional investors own 90.05% of the company’s stock.

Groupon Stock Up 12.3 %

Shares of GRPN traded up $1.88 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $17.16. The stock had a trading volume of 665,502 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,202,117. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $14.88 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $14.28. Groupon has a twelve month low of $6.06 and a twelve month high of $19.56. The firm has a market cap of $678.51 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -12.84 and a beta of 1.83. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 5.48, a current ratio of 0.93 and a quick ratio of 0.93.

Groupon (NASDAQ:GRPN) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 9th. The coupon company reported $0.01 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($0.18) by $0.19. The company had revenue of $123.08 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $118.37 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned ($0.70) EPS. On average, analysts anticipate that Groupon will post 0.02 EPS for the current year.

About Groupon

Groupon, Inc, together with its subsidiaries, operates a marketplace that connects consumers to merchants. It operates in two segments, North America and International. The company sells goods or services on behalf of third-party merchants. It serves customers through its mobile applications and websites.