Remitly Global, Inc. (NASDAQ:RELY) Sees Significant Growth in Short Interest

Key Points

• Short interest in Remitly Global surged in May, rising 148.3% to 13.74 million shares, with 7.0% of the float now sold short and a 1.6-day days-to-cover ratio.
• Several insiders sold shares recently, including Director Bora Chung and CFO Vikas D. Mehta, while insider sales totaled more than 12.2 million shares over the past 90 days.
• Despite the bearish positioning, Remitly reported strong quarterly results, beating EPS and revenue estimates, and analysts remain mostly positive with a consensus Moderate Buy rating and a $24.63 average price target.

Remitly Global, Inc. (NASDAQ:RELY - Get Free Report) was the target of a significant growth in short interest in May. As of May 15th, there was short interest totaling 13,742,989 shares, a growth of 148.3% from the April 30th total of 5,534,001 shares. Currently, 7.0% of the company's stock are sold short. Based on an average daily volume of 8,389,938 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 1.6 days.

Insider Buying and Selling at Remitly Global

In related news, Director Bora Chung sold 12,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, May 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $21.42, for a total transaction of $257,040.00. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 125,317 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $2,684,290.14. The trade was a 8.74% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CFO Vikas D. Mehta sold 25,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, May 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $21.07, for a total transaction of $526,750.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer owned 988,004 shares in the company, valued at approximately $20,817,244.28. This represents a 2.47% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards. Insiders sold a total of 12,249,475 shares of company stock valued at $196,767,958 in the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 6.53% of the company's stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in RELY. Baillie Gifford & Co. grew its holdings in Remitly Global by 48.2% during the fourth quarter. Baillie Gifford & Co. now owns 11,658,558 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $160,888,000 after purchasing an additional 3,790,210 shares during the last quarter. Marshall Wace LLP lifted its stake in shares of Remitly Global by 30.4% in the fourth quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 5,995,712 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $82,741,000 after buying an additional 1,396,568 shares during the last quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership boosted its holdings in shares of Remitly Global by 86.0% during the 3rd quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 5,554,016 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $90,530,000 after buying an additional 2,567,446 shares during the period. ArrowMark Colorado Holdings LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Remitly Global by 46.2% during the 3rd quarter. ArrowMark Colorado Holdings LLC now owns 5,531,247 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $90,159,000 after buying an additional 1,748,576 shares during the period. Finally, Bank of America Corp DE grew its stake in Remitly Global by 471.7% in the 1st quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 5,153,726 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $80,759,000 after buying an additional 4,252,294 shares during the last quarter. 74.25% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts recently issued reports on the company. Bank of America started coverage on Remitly Global in a research report on Tuesday, February 10th. They set a "buy" rating and a $18.00 price objective for the company. Citigroup reaffirmed an "outperform" rating on shares of Remitly Global in a research report on Thursday, May 7th. Citizens Jmp raised their price target on Remitly Global from $22.00 to $26.00 and gave the stock a "market outperform" rating in a research note on Thursday, May 7th. Wall Street Zen lowered Remitly Global from a "strong-buy" rating to a "buy" rating in a report on Saturday, March 28th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group restated a "buy" rating and issued a $27.00 price objective on shares of Remitly Global in a report on Thursday, May 7th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nine have assigned a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Remitly Global currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $24.63.

Remitly Global Trading Up 0.1%

RELY stock opened at $20.02 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $4.22 billion, a PE ratio of 40.86 and a beta of 0.40. Remitly Global has a 1 year low of $12.08 and a 1 year high of $24.92. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $19.55 and a 200 day simple moving average of $16.05.

Remitly Global (NASDAQ:RELY - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, May 6th. The financial services provider reported $0.23 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.12 by $0.11. Remitly Global had a net margin of 6.12% and a return on equity of 12.90%. The firm had revenue of $452.80 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $438.94 million. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.05 earnings per share. The business's quarterly revenue was up 25.2% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts forecast that Remitly Global will post 0.67 EPS for the current fiscal year.

About Remitly Global

Remitly Global, Inc operates as a digital financial services company specializing in cross-border money transfers. Through its proprietary online platform and mobile applications, the company enables immigrants, expatriates and international workers to send remittances swiftly and securely to their families abroad. By focusing on fast deliverability and transparent pricing, Remitly seeks to streamline a process traditionally dominated by cash-based methods and legacy money transfer operators.

Founded in 2011 by Matt Oppenheimer and headquartered in Seattle, Washington, Remitly has grown from a startup into a publicly traded corporation listed on NASDAQ under the ticker RELY.

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