Short Interest in Coty Inc. (NYSE:COTY) Increases By 5.5%

Coty Inc. (NYSE:COTY) was the target of a large increase in short interest during the month of December. As of December 15th, there was short interest totalling 13,140,000 shares, an increase of 5.5% from the November 30th total of 12,460,000 shares. Currently, 3.6% of the company’s shares are short sold. Based on an average daily volume of 5,330,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 2.5 days.

Analyst Ratings Changes

COTY has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lowered their price objective on Coty from $14.00 to $12.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, October 16th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price target on shares of Coty from $11.00 to $10.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, October 15th. Jefferies Financial Group reduced their price objective on shares of Coty from $12.00 to $11.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, October 16th. Barclays downgraded shares of Coty from an “equal weight” rating to an “underweight” rating and lowered their target price for the stock from $8.00 to $7.00 in a research note on Thursday, November 7th. Finally, Raymond James cut their price target on shares of Coty from $13.00 to $11.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, November 8th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $11.41.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Coty

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Blue Trust Inc. raised its position in Coty by 330.3% in the 3rd quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 3,107 shares of the company’s stock valued at $31,000 after buying an additional 2,385 shares during the last quarter. Virtu Financial LLC bought a new stake in shares of Coty in the 3rd quarter worth $96,000. Capstone Investment Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Coty in the third quarter valued at about $109,000. Quadrature Capital Ltd bought a new position in shares of Coty during the third quarter valued at about $124,000. Finally, American Century Companies Inc. boosted its holdings in Coty by 10.6% during the second quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 14,746 shares of the company’s stock worth $148,000 after purchasing an additional 1,414 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 42.36% of the company’s stock.

Coty Trading Down 1.4 %

Shares of Coty stock opened at $6.86 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $5.97 billion, a PE ratio of 40.35, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.75 and a beta of 1.89. Coty has a 52 week low of $6.80 and a 52 week high of $13.30. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $7.34 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $8.67. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.93, a quick ratio of 0.55 and a current ratio of 0.85.

Coty (NYSE:COTY) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, November 6th. The company reported $0.15 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.19 by ($0.04). Coty had a net margin of 2.78% and a return on equity of 9.16%. The business had revenue of $1.67 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.67 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $0.09 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 1.8% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Coty will post 0.51 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

About Coty

Coty Inc, together with its subsidiaries, manufactures, markets, distributes, and sells beauty products worldwide. It operates through Prestige and Consumer Beauty segments. The company provides fragrance, color cosmetics, and skin and body care products. It offers Prestige segment products primarily through prestige retailers, including perfumeries, department stores, e-retailers, direct-to-consumer websites, and duty-free shops under the Burberry, Calvin Klein, Chloe, Davidoff, Escada, Gucci, Hugo Boss, Jil Sander, Joop!, Kylie Jenner, Lancaster, Marc Jacobs, Miu Miu, Orveda, philosophy, SKKN BY KIM, and Tiffany & Co brands.