Short Interest in Despegar.com, Corp. (NYSE:DESP) Grows By 171.8%

Despegar.com, Corp. (NYSE:DESP) was the recipient of a large increase in short interest in July. As of July 15th, there was short interest totalling 5,490,000 shares, an increase of 171.8% from the June 30th total of 2,020,000 shares. Currently, 9.9% of the shares of the company are short sold. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 1,180,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 4.7 days.

Despegar.com Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:DESP traded up $0.01 on Friday, hitting $11.71. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 723,101 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,265,206. Despegar.com has a 1 year low of $6.09 and a 1 year high of $15.82. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $13.76 and a 200 day simple moving average of $11.67.

Despegar.com (NYSE:DESP) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 16th. The company reported $0.18 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.12 by $0.06. Despegar.com had a negative return on equity of 44.06% and a net margin of 5.41%. The business had revenue of $173.66 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $172.23 million. As a group, equities analysts predict that Despegar.com will post 0.83 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts have commented on DESP shares. Cantor Fitzgerald lifted their price objective on shares of Despegar.com from $14.00 to $17.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, May 17th. B. Riley lifted their price target on shares of Despegar.com from $16.00 to $19.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, May 17th. Finally, Citigroup increased their price objective on Despegar.com from $14.50 to $15.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, July 22nd.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Despegar.com

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Bank of New York Mellon Corp purchased a new position in shares of Despegar.com in the second quarter worth $2,618,000. LRI Investments LLC bought a new position in Despegar.com in the 2nd quarter worth $87,000. Coronation Fund Managers Ltd. bought a new stake in shares of Despegar.com during the 2nd quarter valued at about $15,680,000. Baader Bank Aktiengesellschaft increased its position in shares of Despegar.com by 67.4% during the second quarter. Baader Bank Aktiengesellschaft now owns 38,500 shares of the company’s stock valued at $509,000 after buying an additional 15,500 shares during the period. Finally, SG Americas Securities LLC bought a new position in Despegar.com in the second quarter worth about $2,006,000. 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.