Investors Purchase High Volume of Coupang Call Options (NYSE:CPNG)

Coupang, Inc. (NYSE:CPNG) saw some unusual options trading on Wednesday. Traders bought 23,766 call options on the stock. This is an increase of 49% compared to the typical volume of 16,003 call options.

Coupang Stock Performance

Shares of CPNG opened at $23.41 on Thursday. The company has a market capitalization of $41.86 billion, a PE ratio of 33.44, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 161.35 and a beta of 1.10. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.72, a current ratio of 1.12 and a quick ratio of 0.87. Coupang has a one year low of $13.51 and a one year high of $23.99. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $21.71 and its 200 day moving average price is $21.07.

Coupang (NYSE:CPNG) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, August 6th. The company reported $0.07 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.01) by $0.08. The firm had revenue of $7.32 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $7.39 billion. Coupang had a return on equity of 12.04% and a net margin of 3.87%. The company’s revenue was up 25.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.08 EPS. As a group, analysts expect that Coupang will post 0.14 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity

In other Coupang news, Director Benjamin Sun sold 200,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $23.36, for a total value of $4,672,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 1,969,421 shares in the company, valued at approximately $46,005,674.56. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. In other news, Director Benjamin Sun sold 200,000 shares of Coupang stock in a transaction on Monday, August 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $23.36, for a total transaction of $4,672,000.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 1,969,421 shares in the company, valued at approximately $46,005,674.56. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, insider Pranam Kolari sold 10,432 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $19.90, for a total transaction of $207,596.80. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 170,356 shares in the company, valued at $3,390,084.40. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders purchased 601,300 shares of company stock valued at $13,604,354 and sold 1,110,432 shares valued at $23,870,597. Corporate insiders own 13.60% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Coupang

A number of institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Baillie Gifford & Co. raised its position in Coupang by 1.6% in the 2nd quarter. Baillie Gifford & Co. now owns 171,350,025 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,589,783,000 after purchasing an additional 2,749,027 shares during the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD lifted its holdings in Coupang by 31.5% during the 1st quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 78,865,294 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,403,015,000 after buying an additional 18,894,909 shares in the last quarter. WCM Investment Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Coupang by 2,250.9% in the 1st quarter. WCM Investment Management LLC now owns 44,926,485 shares of the company’s stock valued at $799,242,000 after buying an additional 43,015,433 shares during the period. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of Coupang during the fourth quarter worth $250,714,000. Finally, Sands Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in Coupang by 0.7% in the fourth quarter. Sands Capital Management LLC now owns 14,440,552 shares of the company’s stock valued at $233,793,000 after acquiring an additional 98,043 shares during the last quarter. 83.72% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms have commented on CPNG. Morgan Stanley upped their price objective on shares of Coupang from $26.00 to $27.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, June 26th. CLSA raised Coupang from a “hold” rating to an “outperform” rating and increased their price objective for the stock from $18.00 to $31.00 in a research note on Wednesday, September 4th. Finally, UBS Group upgraded Coupang from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their target price for the company from $18.50 to $26.00 in a report on Thursday, May 16th. One analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Coupang currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $27.25.

Coupang Company Profile

Coupang, Inc, together with its subsidiaries owns and operates retail business through its mobile applications and Internet websites primarily in South Korea. The company operates through Product Commerce and Developing Offerings segments. It sells various products and services in the categories of home goods and décor products, apparel, beauty products, fresh food and groceries, sporting goods, electronics, and everyday consumables, as well as travel, and restaurant order and delivery services.