Groupon Sees Unusually Large Options Volume (NASDAQ:GRPN)

Groupon, Inc. (NASDAQ:GRPN) was the recipient of unusually large options trading activity on Tuesday. Investors bought 19,108 call options on the company. This represents an increase of approximately 798% compared to the typical volume of 2,128 call options.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

GRPN has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. The Goldman Sachs Group dropped 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 research note on Monday, December 29th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, one has given a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $33.67.

Groupon Stock Up 11.4%

GRPN stock opened at $16.66 on Wednesday. Groupon has a twelve month low of $9.17 and a twelve month high of $43.08. The company has a market cap of $646.41 million, a P/E ratio of -7.86 and a beta of -0.04. The business has a fifty day moving average of $12.07 and a 200-day moving average of $15.67.

Groupon (NASDAQ:GRPN) last announced 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 0.28 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Groupon

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of GRPN. Bank of America Corp DE boosted its stake in 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 valued at $38,017,000 after acquiring an additional 962,337 shares during the last quarter. Millennium Management LLC raised its position 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 acquiring an additional 698,270 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Groupon by 22.2% in the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 2,108,578 shares of the coupon company’s stock valued at $49,235,000 after purchasing an additional 383,277 shares during the period. ExodusPoint Capital Management LP acquired a new position in shares of Groupon in the 4th quarter valued at $5,993,000. Finally, Generali Investments CEE investicni spolecnost a.s. boosted its position in shares of Groupon by 147.7% in the 4th quarter. Generali Investments CEE investicni spolecnost a.s. now owns 528,089 shares of the coupon company’s stock worth $9,300,000 after purchasing an additional 314,896 shares during the last quarter. 90.05% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

About Groupon

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.