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

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

Groupon Stock Performance

Shares of Groupon stock traded up $0.97 during trading on Tuesday, reaching $15.92. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 5,699,107 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,382,155. Groupon has a one year low of $9.17 and a one year high of $43.08. The firm has a market cap of $617.66 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -7.49 and a beta of -0.04. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $11.99 and its 200-day moving average price is $15.72.

Groupon (NASDAQ:GRPN) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, March 10th. The coupon company reported $0.17 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.19 by ($0.02). The business had revenue of $132.71 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $137.34 million. Groupon had a negative net margin of 16.76% and a negative return on equity of 717.37%. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Groupon will post 0.28 EPS for the current year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Groupon

Several hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. Bank of America Corp DE grew its stake 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 acquiring an additional 962,337 shares during the last quarter. Millennium Management LLC lifted its stake in Groupon by 749.0% during the fourth quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 791,498 shares of the coupon company’s stock worth $13,938,000 after purchasing an additional 698,270 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in Groupon by 22.2% during the third 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 in the last quarter. ExodusPoint Capital Management LP acquired a new stake in Groupon during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $5,993,000. Finally, Generali Investments CEE investicni spolecnost a.s. boosted its holdings in Groupon by 147.7% during the fourth quarter. Generali Investments CEE investicni spolecnost a.s. now owns 528,089 shares of the coupon company’s stock valued at $9,300,000 after purchasing an additional 314,896 shares in the last quarter. 90.05% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have recently commented on GRPN shares. The Goldman Sachs Group dropped their price target on shares of Groupon from $17.00 to $10.00 and set a “sell” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, March 12th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “sell (d)” rating on shares of Groupon in a report on Monday, December 29th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, one has given a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $33.67.

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.