Traders Purchase High Volume of Call Options on Groupon (NASDAQ:GRPN)

Groupon, Inc. (NASDAQ:GRPN) saw some unusual options trading activity on Monday. Investors purchased 11,468 call options on the stock. This is an increase of 70% compared to the typical daily volume of 6,747 call options.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

GRPN has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Northland Securities set a $26.00 price target on Groupon in a report on Wednesday, May 27th. Weiss Ratings restated a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of Groupon in a research report on Tuesday, June 9th. The Goldman Sachs Group reaffirmed a “sell” rating and set a $13.00 target price (up from $10.00) on shares of Groupon in a research note on Tuesday, May 12th. Wall Street Zen downgraded Groupon from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Saturday, May 9th. Finally, Citigroup reissued an “outperform” rating on shares of Groupon in a research report on Tuesday, June 9th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, one has assigned a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $19.50.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Generali Investments CEE investicni spolecnost a.s. grew its position in shares of Groupon by 147.7% in 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 during the last quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC increased its stake in shares of Groupon by 764.9% in the fourth quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 197,546 shares of the coupon company’s stock worth $3,479,000 after purchasing an additional 174,705 shares during the period. Potomac Capital Management Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Groupon during the 4th quarter worth about $2,633,000. Manatuck Hill Partners LLC acquired a new position in shares of Groupon during the 4th quarter worth about $678,000. Finally, OP Asset Management Ltd bought a new stake in Groupon during the 1st quarter valued at approximately $540,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 90.05% of the company’s stock.

Groupon Trading Up 8.8%

Groupon stock opened at $25.60 on Wednesday. The company has a market capitalization of $972.29 million, a P/E ratio of -9.81 and a beta of 0.23. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $19.74 and its 200-day simple moving average is $15.82. Groupon has a 1-year low of $9.17 and a 1-year high of $43.08.

Groupon (NASDAQ:GRPN) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 7th. The coupon company reported ($0.32) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.02) by ($0.30). The company had revenue of $117.20 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $117.65 million. On average, equities research analysts predict that Groupon will post -0.16 earnings per share for the current year.

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.