Open Lending Corporation (NASDAQ:LPRO) Short Interest Up 23.9% in March

Key Points

• Short interest jumped 23.9% in March to 2,707,628 shares (about 2.7% of shares short), implying a short-interest ratio of 4.2 days based on average volume.
• Open Lending missed quarterly estimates (EPS $0.01 vs $0.02; revenue $19.35M vs $21.92M), trades around $1.69 with a ~$199M market cap, and carries a mixed analyst consensus (average "Hold" rating, $2.56 target).

Open Lending Corporation (NASDAQ:LPRO - Get Free Report) saw a large increase in short interest in the month of March. As of March 31st, there was short interest totaling 2,707,628 shares, an increase of 23.9% from the March 15th total of 2,185,077 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 641,348 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 4.2 days. Currently, 2.7% of the shares of the stock are short sold.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Open Lending

A number of institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Invesco Ltd. increased its position in Open Lending by 6.8% during the 4th quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 285,148 shares of the company's stock worth $442,000 after purchasing an additional 18,118 shares in the last quarter. Veradace Capital Management LLC acquired a new position in Open Lending during the 4th quarter worth approximately $2,372,000. SkyView Investment Advisors LLC increased its position in Open Lending by 25.5% during the 4th quarter. SkyView Investment Advisors LLC now owns 150,422 shares of the company's stock worth $233,000 after purchasing an additional 30,523 shares in the last quarter. Quadrature Capital Ltd increased its position in Open Lending by 223.5% during the 4th quarter. Quadrature Capital Ltd now owns 65,376 shares of the company's stock worth $101,000 after purchasing an additional 45,166 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Man Group plc increased its position in Open Lending by 6.3% during the 4th quarter. Man Group plc now owns 237,313 shares of the company's stock worth $368,000 after purchasing an additional 14,011 shares in the last quarter. 78.06% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

LPRO has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. DA Davidson cut their price target on shares of Open Lending from $4.00 to $3.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a report on Monday, March 16th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a "sell (d-)" rating on shares of Open Lending in a report on Thursday, January 22nd. Finally, Canaccord Genuity Group reaffirmed a "hold" rating and set a $2.00 price target on shares of Open Lending in a report on Tuesday, March 17th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, three have given a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $2.56.

Open Lending Price Performance

Shares of Open Lending stock traded up $0.01 on Thursday, reaching $1.69. 414,834 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 605,291. The firm's 50 day moving average is $1.39 and its 200-day moving average is $1.67. Open Lending has a one year low of $0.81 and a one year high of $2.70. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.03, a quick ratio of 4.52 and a current ratio of 4.52. The firm has a market cap of $198.88 million, a PE ratio of -56.33 and a beta of 2.03.

Open Lending (NASDAQ:LPRO - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, March 12th. The company reported $0.01 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $0.02 by ($0.01). The company had revenue of $19.35 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $21.92 million. Open Lending had a positive return on equity of 8.83% and a negative net margin of 4.54%. As a group, analysts anticipate that Open Lending will post 0.1 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Open Lending Company Profile

Open Lending Corporation is a financial technology company specializing in risk analytics and automated loan decisioning for the automotive finance industry. Through its proprietary platform, Open Lending enables banks, credit unions and finance companies to enhance underwriting accuracy, manage risk more effectively and streamline the loan origination process. The company's solutions leverage machine learning and big-data analytics to deliver credit-based pricing models that help lenders optimize portfolio performance and reduce losses.

The core offerings of Open Lending include an automated underwriting engine, risk-based pricing tools and performance analytics dashboards.

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