Groupon, Inc. (NASDAQ:GRPN) Given Average Rating of “Hold” by Brokerages

Groupon, Inc. (NASDAQ:GRPN) has been assigned an average rating of “Hold” from the five brokerages that are presently covering the company, Marketbeat.com reports. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, one has assigned a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating on the company. The average 1 year target price among analysts that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $33.6667.

A number of research firms have recently issued reports on GRPN. The Goldman Sachs Group reduced their target price on Groupon from $17.00 to $10.00 and set a “sell” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, March 12th. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “sell (d)” rating on shares of Groupon in a report on Monday, December 29th.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Groupon

Large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Bank of America Corp DE lifted its position in shares of Groupon by 552.5% in the second quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 1,136,524 shares of the coupon company’s stock worth $38,017,000 after purchasing an additional 962,337 shares in the last quarter. Millennium Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Groupon by 749.0% during the 4th quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 791,498 shares of the coupon company’s stock valued at $13,938,000 after buying an additional 698,270 shares during the period. Continental General Insurance Co. boosted its stake in shares of Groupon by 28.3% during the 2nd quarter. Continental General Insurance Co. now owns 2,929,832 shares of the coupon company’s stock valued at $98,003,000 after buying an additional 647,100 shares during the period. Marshall Wace LLP grew its holdings in shares of Groupon by 59.4% during the 2nd quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 1,167,422 shares of the coupon company’s stock valued at $39,050,000 after acquiring an additional 434,963 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Groupon by 22.2% during the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 2,108,578 shares of the coupon company’s stock valued at $49,235,000 after acquiring an additional 383,277 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 90.05% of the company’s stock.

Groupon Stock Up 5.0%

GRPN stock opened at $10.80 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 4.16, a current ratio of 0.98 and a quick ratio of 0.98. The firm has a market capitalization of $439.99 million, a P/E ratio of -5.09 and a beta of -0.02. Groupon has a 52-week low of $9.17 and a 52-week high of $43.08. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $13.62 and its 200-day simple moving average is $17.60.

Groupon (NASDAQ:GRPN) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, March 10th. The coupon company reported $0.17 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.19 by ($0.02). Groupon had a negative return on equity of 717.37% and a negative net margin of 16.76%.The firm had revenue of $132.71 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $137.34 million. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Groupon will post -0.31 EPS for the current year.

Groupon Company Profile

Groupon, Inc operates an online marketplace that connects subscribers with local merchants offering discounted goods, services and experiences. Through its website and mobile applications, Groupon provides time-limited deals across categories such as restaurants, travel, beauty and wellness, home services, and consumer products. Merchants partner with Groupon to attract new customers and drive foot traffic, leveraging the platform’s targeted marketing tools and large subscriber base to promote special offers and vouchers.

Founded in Chicago in 2008 by Andrew Mason, Eric Lefkofsky and Brad Keywell, Groupon pioneered the daily-deals model, quickly growing its user community and merchant network.