Despegar.com, Corp. (NYSE:DESP) Short Interest Down 7.6% in September

Despegar.com, Corp. (NYSE:DESP) was the target of a significant drop in short interest during the month of September. As of September 15th, there was short interest totalling 6,420,000 shares, a drop of 7.6% from the August 31st total of 6,950,000 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 1,110,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 5.8 days. Approximately 14.4% of the shares of the stock are short sold.

Despegar.com Trading Down 0.6 %

DESP traded down $0.08 during midday trading on Tuesday, reaching $12.32. 903,596 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 897,477. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $11.66 and a two-hundred day moving average of $12.56. Despegar.com has a 52 week low of $6.09 and a 52 week high of $15.82.

Despegar.com (NYSE:DESP) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 15th. The company reported $0.27 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.15 by $0.12. Despegar.com had a net margin of 3.30% and a negative return on equity of 62.18%. The business had revenue of $185.05 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $184.35 million. Analysts predict that Despegar.com will post 0.75 EPS for the current year.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Despegar.com

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Sylebra Capital LLC boosted its position in Despegar.com by 72.5% during the 2nd quarter. Sylebra Capital LLC now owns 2,923,275 shares of the company’s stock valued at $38,675,000 after acquiring an additional 1,228,824 shares in the last quarter. Coronation Fund Managers Ltd. bought a new stake in shares of Despegar.com during the second quarter valued at approximately $15,680,000. Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. grew its stake in Despegar.com by 107.0% in the second quarter. Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. now owns 2,072,713 shares of the company’s stock worth $26,446,000 after purchasing an additional 1,071,213 shares during the period. MayTech Global Investments LLC purchased a new stake in Despegar.com in the second quarter worth $11,836,000. Finally, Norges Bank bought a new position in Despegar.com in the fourth quarter worth $6,622,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 67.93% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have recently weighed in on DESP shares. TD Cowen boosted their price objective on shares of Despegar.com from $9.00 to $12.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 20th. Cantor Fitzgerald reissued an “overweight” rating and issued a $17.00 price target on shares of Despegar.com in a research note on Friday, August 16th. Finally, Citigroup raised their price objective on Despegar.com from $14.50 to $15.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, July 22nd.

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.