Salem Investment Counselors Inc. Sells 27,455 Shares of Coupang, Inc. $CPNG

Salem Investment Counselors Inc. decreased its stake in Coupang, Inc. (NYSE:CPNG) by 31.0% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 61,240 shares of the company’s stock after selling 27,455 shares during the quarter. Salem Investment Counselors Inc.’s holdings in Coupang were worth $1,445,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. SG Americas Securities LLC grew its stake in shares of Coupang by 10,004.5% during the 4th quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 988,722 shares of the company’s stock valued at $23,324,000 after acquiring an additional 978,937 shares during the period. 180 Wealth Advisors LLC raised its stake in Coupang by 5.1% during the 4th quarter. 180 Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 29,478 shares of the company’s stock worth $695,000 after acquiring an additional 1,429 shares during the period. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC lifted its holdings in Coupang by 44.5% during the fourth quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC now owns 254,159 shares of the company’s stock valued at $5,980,000 after purchasing an additional 78,298 shares in the last quarter. Leibman Financial Services Inc. lifted its holdings in Coupang by 104.8% during the fourth quarter. Leibman Financial Services Inc. now owns 72,833 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,718,000 after purchasing an additional 37,268 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Saranac Partners Ltd bought a new position in shares of Coupang in the third quarter worth approximately $346,000. Institutional investors own 83.72% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have recently commented on CPNG. Barclays raised their price objective on shares of Coupang from $23.00 to $24.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, March 2nd. Nomura decreased their price target on Coupang from $22.00 to $20.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, March 2nd. Weiss Ratings lowered Coupang from a “hold (c)” rating to a “sell (d+)” rating in a research note on Monday, March 2nd. Citigroup cut their target price on Coupang from $27.00 to $24.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, February 10th. Finally, Mizuho decreased their target price on Coupang from $32.00 to $25.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, February 27th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, three have assigned a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $26.70.

Coupang Trading Down 4.1%

Shares of CPNG opened at $18.51 on Wednesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $33.85 billion, a PE ratio of 154.29 and a beta of 1.20. The company’s fifty day moving average is $19.15 and its 200 day moving average is $25.27. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14, a quick ratio of 0.79 and a current ratio of 1.04. Coupang, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $16.74 and a fifty-two week high of $34.08.

Coupang (NYSE:CPNG) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 26th. The company reported ($0.01) EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.02 by ($0.03). Coupang had a net margin of 0.60% and a return on equity of 4.52%. The business had revenue of $8.84 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $9.12 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $0.04 EPS. Coupang’s revenue for the quarter was up 10.9% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts expect that Coupang, Inc. will post 0.17 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Transactions at Coupang

In related news, Director Neil Mehta acquired 3,000,000 shares of Coupang stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 12th. The shares were bought at an average cost of $18.68 per share, with a total value of $56,040,000.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the director directly owned 52,978,114 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $989,631,169.52. The trade was a 6.00% increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CAO Jonathan D. Lee sold 2,679 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, January 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $23.62, for a total value of $63,277.98. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer directly owned 122,096 shares in the company, valued at $2,883,907.52. The trade was a 2.15% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. In the last ninety days, insiders purchased 7,350,104 shares of company stock valued at $136,566,051. 12.78% of the stock is owned by insiders.

About Coupang

Coupang, listed on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker CPNG, is a South Korean e-commerce company headquartered in Seoul. Founded in 2010 by Bom Kim, the company grew rapidly by combining an online marketplace with a large direct-retail business model. Coupang completed a primary listing in the United States in 2021, and it has become one of South Korea’s leading online retailers by focusing on convenience, speed and a wide product assortment across consumer categories.

The company operates a vertically integrated e-commerce platform that includes a customer-facing marketplace and an extensive logistics and fulfillment network.