Investors Purchase Large Volume of Vipshop Call Options (NYSE:VIPS)

Vipshop Holdings Limited (NYSE:VIPS) was the recipient of unusually large options trading on Friday. Traders bought 5,564 call options on the stock. This is an increase of 115% compared to the average volume of 2,588 call options.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts have recently commented on VIPS shares. Citigroup raised their target price on Vipshop from $15.00 to $18.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, September 27th. CLSA lowered Vipshop from an “outperform” rating to a “hold” rating and dropped their price objective for the company from $15.80 to $12.00 in a report on Wednesday, August 21st. Morgan Stanley reduced their target price on Vipshop from $16.00 to $14.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, August 20th. UBS Group cut shares of Vipshop from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and dropped their price target for the company from $20.00 to $12.50 in a research note on Wednesday, August 21st. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded shares of Vipshop from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, September 12th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $17.42.

Institutional Trading of Vipshop

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. raised its stake in Vipshop by 28.0% during the 4th quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 10,394,122 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $184,600,000 after acquiring an additional 2,273,198 shares during the last quarter. Vinva Investment Management Ltd lifted its holdings in shares of Vipshop by 6.4% during the fourth quarter. Vinva Investment Management Ltd now owns 16,007 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $281,000 after purchasing an additional 969 shares during the period. AdvisorShares Investments LLC purchased a new position in Vipshop in the 4th quarter valued at $620,000. Schroder Investment Management Group increased its stake in Vipshop by 1.6% in the 4th quarter. Schroder Investment Management Group now owns 3,791,673 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $67,340,000 after buying an additional 60,605 shares during the period. Finally, Nomura Holdings Inc. raised its position in Vipshop by 58.3% during the 4th quarter. Nomura Holdings Inc. now owns 585,088 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $10,391,000 after buying an additional 215,520 shares during the last quarter. 48.82% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Vipshop Trading Up 1.8 %

VIPS stock opened at $17.44 on Friday. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $13.58 and its 200 day moving average price is $14.83. Vipshop has a 12-month low of $11.50 and a 12-month high of $20.19. The company has a market capitalization of $9.46 billion, a PE ratio of 8.11 and a beta of 0.34.

Vipshop (NYSE:VIPS) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, August 20th. The technology company reported $3.91 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.48 by $3.43. Vipshop had a net margin of 7.52% and a return on equity of 22.51%. The business had revenue of $25.08 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $26.61 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.51 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 4.1% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts predict that Vipshop will post 1.97 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Vipshop Company Profile

Vipshop Holdings Limited operates online platforms in the People's Republic of China. It operates in Vip.com, Shan Shan Outlets, and Others segments. The company offers womenswear, menswear, sportswear and sporting goods, shoes and bags, accessories, baby and children products, skincare and cosmetics, home goods and other lifestyle products, and supermarket products.