Groupon, Inc. (NASDAQ:GRPN) Given Average Recommendation of “Hold” by Brokerages

Groupon, Inc. (NASDAQ:GRPN) has received an average rating of “Hold” from the seven brokerages that are covering the firm, Marketbeat reports. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell recommendation, one has assigned a hold recommendation and four have issued a buy recommendation on the company. The average twelve-month price target among brokers that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $29.80.

A number of research analysts have recently weighed in on GRPN shares. Weiss Ratings reissued a “sell (d)” rating on shares of Groupon in a research report on Monday, December 29th. Zacks Research downgraded Groupon from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, October 27th. Finally, Wall Street Zen downgraded Groupon from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, November 8th.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Groupon

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Continental General Insurance Co. lifted its holdings in Groupon by 28.3% during the second quarter. Continental General Insurance Co. now owns 2,929,832 shares of the coupon company’s stock valued at $98,003,000 after purchasing an additional 647,100 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in shares of Groupon by 22.2% in 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 during the period. Marshall Wace LLP raised its position in shares of Groupon by 59.4% in the second quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 1,167,422 shares of the coupon company’s stock valued at $39,050,000 after purchasing an additional 434,963 shares during the period. Bank of America Corp DE lifted its stake in shares of Groupon by 552.5% during the 2nd quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 1,136,524 shares of the coupon company’s stock valued at $38,017,000 after buying an additional 962,337 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Tyro Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in Groupon by 6.8% in the 3rd quarter. Tyro Capital Management LLC now owns 1,091,095 shares of the coupon company’s stock worth $25,477,000 after buying an additional 69,378 shares during the period. 90.05% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Groupon Trading Up 2.1%

Shares of Groupon stock opened at $16.61 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $677.02 million, a PE ratio of -4.76 and a beta of 0.02. Groupon has a 1 year low of $9.21 and a 1 year high of $43.08. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 4.16, a current ratio of 0.93 and a quick ratio of 0.93. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $17.47 and a 200-day moving average price of $23.99.

Groupon (NASDAQ:GRPN) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, November 6th. The coupon company reported ($2.92) earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.01 by ($2.93). Groupon had a negative return on equity of 717.37% and a negative net margin of 28.52%.The company had revenue of $122.83 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $121.99 million. Equities research analysts anticipate that Groupon will post -0.31 EPS for the current year.

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.