Coupang, Inc. (NYSE:CPNG) Short Interest Up 7.3% in December

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

Coupang Stock Down 1.1 %

Coupang stock opened at $22.09 on Tuesday. Coupang has a twelve month low of $13.51 and a twelve month high of $26.91. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $23.46 and its 200-day simple moving average is $23.31. The company has a current ratio of 1.13, a quick ratio of 0.86 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.28. The firm has a market capitalization of $39.73 billion, a P/E ratio of 38.75, a P/E/G ratio of 34.64 and a beta of 1.10.

Coupang (NYSE:CPNG) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, November 5th. The company reported $0.06 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.01 by $0.05. The firm had revenue of $7.87 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $7.76 billion. Coupang had a net margin of 3.57% and a return on equity of 11.52%. The company’s revenue was up 27.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.05 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts expect that Coupang will post 0.11 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts recently issued reports on the company. Citigroup lowered their price objective on 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 raised Coupang from an “underperform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $30.00 target price on the stock in a research report on Monday, October 7th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $27.56.

Insider Activity at Coupang

In related news, CEO Bom Kim sold 15,000,000 shares of Coupang stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $22.97, for a total value 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. The trade was a 88.24 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director Greenoaks Capital Partners Llc purchased 750,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 8th. The stock was acquired at an average price of $24.01 per share, with a total value of $18,007,500.00. Following the purchase, the director now owns 52,038,723 shares in the company, valued at $1,249,449,739.23. This represents a 1.46 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. 13.60% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Coupang

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the company. SG Americas Securities LLC grew its stake in shares of Coupang by 1,053.7% during the fourth quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 407,940 shares of the company’s stock worth $8,967,000 after purchasing an additional 372,581 shares in the last quarter. Avanza Fonder AB acquired a new position in Coupang in the fourth quarter valued at $2,729,000. Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc. boosted its stake in Coupang by 21.7% in the fourth quarter. Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc. now owns 66,851 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,469,000 after acquiring an additional 11,914 shares in the last quarter. Park Avenue Securities LLC acquired a new position in Coupang in the fourth quarter valued at $300,000. Finally, Assenagon Asset Management S.A. boosted its stake in Coupang by 85.4% in the fourth quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 1,100,183 shares of the company’s stock valued at $24,182,000 after acquiring an additional 506,622 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 83.72% of the company’s stock.

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.