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

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

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on COTY. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their target price on shares of Coty from $10.00 to $9.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, October 15th. Royal Bank of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $14.00 price target on shares of Coty in a report on Tuesday, October 15th. DA Davidson reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $12.50 price target on shares of Coty in a research report on Wednesday, December 18th. Jefferies Financial Group cut their target price on Coty from $12.00 to $11.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, October 16th. Finally, 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. One equities research 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. According to MarketBeat.com, Coty presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $11.41.

Coty Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE COTY opened at $6.96 on Thursday. The company has a current ratio of 0.85, a quick ratio of 0.55 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.93. Coty has a 12-month low of $6.80 and a 12-month high of $13.30. The firm has a market capitalization of $6.05 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 40.94, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.75 and a beta of 1.89. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $7.36 and a 200 day moving average of $8.69.

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

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Point72 Asset Management L.P. raised its stake in Coty by 789.3% during the 2nd quarter. Point72 Asset Management L.P. now owns 5,582,064 shares of the company’s stock worth $55,932,000 after acquiring an additional 4,954,362 shares during the period. SG Americas Securities LLC increased its stake in shares of Coty by 1,798.5% in the third quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 1,847,328 shares of the company’s stock worth $17,346,000 after purchasing an additional 1,750,021 shares in the last quarter. Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. raised its position in shares of Coty by 42.6% during the 3rd quarter. Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. now owns 5,642,602 shares of the company’s stock valued at $52,984,000 after purchasing an additional 1,687,045 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its stake in shares of Coty by 10.5% during the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 9,387,661 shares of the company’s stock valued at $94,068,000 after buying an additional 890,626 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Armistice Capital LLC bought a new position in Coty in the 2nd quarter worth $8,883,000. 42.36% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Coty Company Profile

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.