Groupon (NASDAQ:GRPN) Shares Gap Up – Time to Buy?

Groupon, Inc. (NASDAQ:GRPN)’s stock price gapped up before the market opened on Tuesday . The stock had previously closed at $14.95, but opened at $17.48. Groupon shares last traded at $17.2140, with a volume of 2,375,673 shares trading hands.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts have issued reports on GRPN shares. The Goldman Sachs Group lowered their price objective on Groupon from $17.00 to $10.00 and set a “sell” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, March 12th. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “sell (d)” rating on shares of Groupon in a research note on Monday, December 29th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, one has given a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $33.67.

Groupon Stock Performance

The firm has a market cap of $627.71 million, a P/E ratio of -7.59 and a beta of -0.04. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $11.99 and a 200 day simple moving average of $15.72.

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

Institutional Trading of Groupon

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of GRPN. AQR Capital Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Groupon in the 1st quarter worth $224,000. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. increased its holdings in shares of Groupon by 31.1% in the 1st quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 44,606 shares of the coupon company’s stock worth $837,000 after purchasing an additional 10,588 shares in the last quarter. Legal & General Group Plc grew its holdings in shares of Groupon by 1,098.1% in the second quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 26,658 shares of the coupon company’s stock worth $892,000 after acquiring an additional 24,433 shares during the period. Rhumbline Advisers grew its holdings in shares of Groupon by 9.6% in the second quarter. Rhumbline Advisers now owns 36,632 shares of the coupon company’s stock worth $1,225,000 after acquiring an additional 3,219 shares during the period. Finally, American Century Companies Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Groupon by 47.6% in the second quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 47,073 shares of the coupon company’s stock worth $1,575,000 after acquiring an additional 15,177 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 90.05% of the company’s stock.

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.