Short Interest in Despegar.com, Corp. (NYSE:DESP) Grows By 10.7%

Despegar.com, Corp. (NYSE:DESP) was the target of a significant growth in short interest in August. As of August 31st, there was short interest totalling 6,950,000 shares, a growth of 10.7% from the August 15th total of 6,280,000 shares. Approximately 15.6% of the company’s stock are short sold. Based on an average daily volume of 1,190,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 5.8 days.

Despegar.com Stock Performance

Shares of Despegar.com stock remained flat at $12.54 during trading on Wednesday. 922,052 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 907,730. The company has a 50 day moving average of $11.82 and a two-hundred day moving average of $12.36. Despegar.com has a fifty-two week low of $6.09 and a fifty-two week high of $15.82.

Despegar.com (NYSE:DESP) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, August 15th. The company reported $0.27 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.15 by $0.12. The business had revenue of $185.05 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $184.35 million. Despegar.com had a negative return on equity of 62.18% and a net margin of 3.30%. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Despegar.com will post 0.75 earnings per share for the current year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages recently issued reports on DESP. TD Cowen raised their price objective on Despegar.com from $9.00 to $12.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 20th. Cantor Fitzgerald reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and set a $17.00 price objective on shares of Despegar.com in a research report on Friday, August 16th. Finally, Citigroup raised their target price on shares of Despegar.com from $14.50 to $15.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, July 22nd.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Despegar.com

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. BNP Paribas Financial Markets lifted its holdings in shares of Despegar.com by 405,440.0% in the fourth quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 121,662 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,151,000 after buying an additional 121,632 shares during the period. Jump Financial LLC raised its position in Despegar.com by 84.6% in the fourth quarter. Jump Financial LLC now owns 51,791 shares of the company’s stock worth $490,000 after acquiring an additional 23,732 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in Despegar.com in the 4th quarter valued at about $6,622,000. Dynamic Technology Lab Private Ltd boosted its position in shares of Despegar.com by 117.3% during the 4th quarter. Dynamic Technology Lab Private Ltd now owns 29,739 shares of the company’s stock valued at $281,000 after purchasing an additional 16,054 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Artisan Partners Limited Partnership grew its stake in shares of Despegar.com by 6.9% in the 4th quarter. Artisan Partners Limited Partnership now owns 1,933,450 shares of the company’s stock worth $18,290,000 after purchasing an additional 125,288 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 67.93% of the company’s stock.

About Despegar.com

Despegar.com, Corp., an online travel company, provides a range of travel and travel-related products to leisure and corporate travelers through its websites and mobile applications in Latin America and the United States. The company operates in two segments, Travel Business and Financial Services Business.