Coupang Sees Unusually High Options Volume (NYSE:CPNG)

Coupang, Inc. (NYSE:CPNG) saw unusually large options trading activity on Wednesday. Traders acquired 22,377 call options on the stock. This represents an increase of 57% compared to the average daily volume of 14,272 call options.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts recently issued reports on CPNG shares. Bank of America increased their target price on shares of Coupang from $36.00 to $38.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday. Weiss Ratings reissued a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Coupang in a research note on Wednesday, October 8th. Arete Research started coverage on shares of Coupang in a research note on Thursday, September 18th. They set a “buy” rating and a $40.00 target price on the stock. Nomura raised shares of Coupang from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $35.00 target price on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, August 6th. Finally, Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Coupang from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Sunday, July 20th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seven have given a Buy rating, three have given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Coupang presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $34.00.

Coupang Stock Down 6.0%

Shares of Coupang stock traded down $1.92 during trading hours on Wednesday, reaching $30.21. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 10,276,345 shares, compared to its average volume of 9,928,516. Coupang has a one year low of $19.02 and a one year high of $34.08. The company has a market capitalization of $55.08 billion, a P/E ratio of 151.19 and a beta of 1.17. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $31.56 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $29.29. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.18, a quick ratio of 0.84 and a current ratio of 1.09.

Coupang (NYSE:CPNG) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, November 4th. The company reported $0.05 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.04 by $0.01. Coupang had a net margin of 1.13% and a return on equity of 7.47%. The company had revenue of $9.27 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $9.13 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $0.06 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 17.8% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts forecast that Coupang will post 0.17 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity

In other news, insider Harold Rogers sold 64,755 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, September 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $32.06, for a total transaction of $2,076,045.30. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 449,569 shares in the company, valued at $14,413,182.14. This represents a 12.59% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director Pedro Franceschi sold 21,428 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, September 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $32.05, for a total transaction of $686,767.40. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. In the last three months, insiders have sold 977,330 shares of company stock valued at $30,864,398. 12.78% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Coupang

A number of large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in CPNG. Dodge & Cox increased its holdings in Coupang by 101.6% during the first quarter. Dodge & Cox now owns 40,784,920 shares of the company’s stock worth $894,413,000 after buying an additional 20,555,600 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in Coupang during the second quarter worth about $587,186,000. GQG Partners LLC purchased a new stake in Coupang during the first quarter worth about $168,127,000. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA increased its holdings in Coupang by 436.6% during the first quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 8,686,580 shares of the company’s stock worth $190,497,000 after buying an additional 7,067,830 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Eminence Capital LP purchased a new stake in Coupang during the second quarter worth about $204,840,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 83.72% of the company’s stock.

Coupang Company Profile

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.