Stock Traders Buy Large Volume of Call Options on Coupang (NYSE:CPNG)

Coupang, Inc. (NYSE:CPNG) was the recipient of some unusual options trading activity on Friday. Investors purchased 50,384 call options on the stock. This represents an increase of 89% compared to the typical daily volume of 26,601 call options.

Coupang Trading Down 0.9%

Shares of NYSE:CPNG traded down $0.17 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $19.00. 2,714,839 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 23,748,527. The firm has a market capitalization of $34.10 billion, a P/E ratio of -210.70 and a beta of 1.11. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $17.17 and a 200-day moving average price of $19.06. Coupang has a 1 year low of $14.92 and a 1 year high of $34.08. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a current ratio of 0.97 and a quick ratio of 0.76.

Coupang (NYSE:CPNG) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, May 5th. The company reported ($0.15) earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($0.09) by ($0.06). Coupang had a negative return on equity of 3.67% and a negative net margin of 0.47%.The business had revenue of $8.50 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $8.48 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.06 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 7.5% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts expect that Coupang will post -0.33 earnings per share for the current year.

Institutional Trading of Coupang

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Sunbelt Securities Inc. bought a new position in shares of Coupang in the third quarter worth about $26,000. Reflection Asset Management bought a new stake in Coupang during the 4th quarter valued at about $28,000. Webster Bank N. A. boosted its position in Coupang by 325.8% in the 1st quarter. Webster Bank N. A. now owns 1,699 shares of the company’s stock valued at $32,000 after buying an additional 1,300 shares during the period. Main Street Group LTD purchased a new stake in Coupang in the 1st quarter valued at about $40,000. Finally, Aster Capital Management DIFC Ltd bought a new position in Coupang in the 4th quarter worth about $42,000. 83.72% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

CPNG has been the subject of several recent research reports. Wall Street Zen lowered Coupang from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a research report on Saturday, March 14th. Barclays reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and issued a $29.00 price objective on shares of Coupang in a research note on Tuesday. The Goldman Sachs Group set a $31.00 target price on Coupang in a report on Thursday. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lowered Coupang from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $23.00 price target on the stock. in a report on Wednesday, May 6th. Finally, Citigroup lowered shares of Coupang from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and dropped their price objective for the stock from $23.00 to $22.20 in a research note on Wednesday, May 6th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, five have given a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Coupang has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $26.02.

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.