Groupon (NASDAQ:GRPN) Stock Price Up 8.8% – Time to Buy?

Groupon, Inc. (NASDAQ:GRPN) shot up 8.8% during mid-day trading on Friday . The company traded as high as $12.74 and last traded at $12.63. 929,771 shares changed hands during trading, a decline of 28% from the average session volume of 1,298,442 shares. The stock had previously closed at $11.61.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms recently issued reports on GRPN. Roth Mkm reissued a “buy” rating and set a $26.00 target price on shares of Groupon in a research note on Wednesday, October 16th. The Goldman Sachs Group lowered their target price on Groupon from $11.00 to $8.00 and set a “sell” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, November 14th. Finally, Northland Securities reduced their price target on Groupon from $20.00 to $17.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, November 13th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has assigned a hold rating, two have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Groupon has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $17.00.

Groupon Trading Up 11.5 %

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 5.66, a quick ratio of 0.93 and a current ratio of 0.93. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $10.08 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $12.65. The stock has a market cap of $515.02 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.39 and a beta of 1.72.

Groupon (NASDAQ:GRPN) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, November 12th. The coupon company reported $0.33 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.25) by $0.58. Groupon had a return on equity of 91.94% and a net margin of 3.87%. The firm had revenue of $114.48 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $119.02 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted ($0.22) EPS. As a group, research analysts forecast that Groupon, Inc. will post -0.31 EPS for the current year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Groupon

Large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. FMR LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Groupon by 112.5% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 5,456 shares of the coupon company’s stock valued at $53,000 after buying an additional 2,888 shares during the last quarter. MetLife Investment Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Groupon by 129.1% in the 3rd quarter. MetLife Investment Management LLC now owns 13,340 shares of the coupon company’s stock valued at $130,000 after buying an additional 7,516 shares during the last quarter. Entropy Technologies LP acquired a new stake in shares of Groupon in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $145,000. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Groupon in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $174,000. Finally, Marathon Trading Investment Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Groupon in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $195,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 90.05% of the company’s stock.

About Groupon

Groupon, Inc, together with its subsidiaries, operates a marketplace that connects consumers to merchants. It operates in two segments, North America and International. The company sells goods or services on behalf of third-party merchants. It serves customers through its mobile applications and websites.