Despegar.com, Corp. (NYSE:DESP) Short Interest Up 115.2% in June

Despegar.com, Corp. (NYSE:DESP) was the target of a large increase in short interest in the month of June. As of June 15th, there was short interest totalling 722,500 shares, an increase of 115.2% from the May 31st total of 335,700 shares. Currently, 1.3% of the company’s stock are short sold. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 1,120,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 0.6 days.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

DESP has been the subject of a number of research reports. B. Riley raised their price objective on Despegar.com from $16.00 to $19.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, May 17th. Cantor Fitzgerald lifted their price objective on shares of Despegar.com from $14.00 to $17.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, May 17th. Finally, Citigroup restated a “neutral” rating and issued a $14.50 target price (up previously from $11.50) on shares of Despegar.com in a report on Monday, April 29th.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Despegar.com

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of DESP. Fourth Sail Capital LP purchased a new stake in Despegar.com during the fourth quarter worth about $12,954,000. Sylebra Capital LLC grew its position in shares of Despegar.com by 236.2% during the 1st quarter. Sylebra Capital LLC now owns 1,694,451 shares of the company’s stock valued at $20,266,000 after acquiring an additional 1,190,463 shares during the period. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Despegar.com during the 4th quarter worth approximately $6,622,000. Woodson Capital Management LP bought a new stake in shares of Despegar.com in the 1st quarter worth approximately $5,980,000. Finally, Yarra Square Partners LP purchased a new position in Despegar.com in the first quarter valued at approximately $4,605,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 67.93% of the company’s stock.

Despegar.com Trading Up 0.5 %

Shares of Despegar.com stock opened at $13.23 on Friday. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $13.58 and a 200 day simple moving average of $11.18. Despegar.com has a 12-month low of $6.09 and a 12-month high of $15.82.

Despegar.com (NYSE:DESP) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, May 16th. The company reported $0.18 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.12 by $0.06. Despegar.com had a net margin of 5.41% and a negative return on equity of 44.06%. The firm had revenue of $173.66 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $172.23 million. On average, research analysts anticipate that Despegar.com will post 0.83 earnings per share for the current year.

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.