Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV Acquires New Position in Victoria’s Secret & Co. (NYSE:VSCO)

Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV acquired a new stake in Victoria’s Secret & Co. (NYSE:VSCO) in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor acquired 4,916 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $204,000.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of VSCO. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Victoria’s Secret & Co. by 326.6% in the fourth quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 2,197 shares of the company’s stock valued at $92,000 after purchasing an additional 1,682 shares during the period. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board boosted its stake in Victoria’s Secret & Co. by 47.1% during the fourth quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board now owns 2,500 shares of the company’s stock worth $104,000 after buying an additional 800 shares during the period. Pinpoint Asset Management Ltd purchased a new position in Victoria’s Secret & Co. during the fourth quarter worth about $123,000. Crossmark Global Holdings Inc. purchased a new position in Victoria’s Secret & Co. during the fourth quarter worth about $206,000. Finally, Amundi boosted its stake in Victoria’s Secret & Co. by 61.0% during the fourth quarter. Amundi now owns 5,549 shares of the company’s stock worth $214,000 after buying an additional 2,103 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 90.29% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages have weighed in on VSCO. The Goldman Sachs Group lowered their target price on shares of Victoria’s Secret & Co. from $19.00 to $15.00 and set a “sell” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, April 22nd. UBS Group lowered their target price on shares of Victoria’s Secret & Co. from $47.00 to $34.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, February 27th. Wells Fargo & Company reaffirmed an “underweight” rating and set a $15.00 target price (up previously from $12.00) on shares of Victoria’s Secret & Co. in a research note on Wednesday. BMO Capital Markets lowered their target price on shares of Victoria’s Secret & Co. from $46.00 to $31.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, March 6th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their target price on shares of Victoria’s Secret & Co. from $35.00 to $17.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, April 14th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Victoria’s Secret & Co. currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $27.09.

Insider Activity at Victoria’s Secret & Co.

In other news, major shareholder International Pte Ltd Bbrc bought 542,000 shares of Victoria’s Secret & Co. stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 10th. The shares were purchased at an average price of $17.32 per share, with a total value of $9,387,440.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the insider now directly owns 8,695,019 shares in the company, valued at $150,597,729.08. The trade was a 6.65% increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Insiders have bought a total of 1,503,973 shares of company stock valued at $26,617,312 over the last 90 days. 1.10% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Victoria’s Secret & Co. Trading Up 1.6%

NYSE VSCO opened at $23.56 on Friday. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $18.91 and a 200-day simple moving average of $30.09. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.12, a quick ratio of 0.33 and a current ratio of 1.17. Victoria’s Secret & Co. has a one year low of $13.76 and a one year high of $48.73. The firm has a market cap of $1.85 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.21, a PEG ratio of 1.15 and a beta of 2.25.

Victoria’s Secret & Co. (NYSE:VSCO) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, March 5th. The company reported $2.60 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.30 by $0.30. The business had revenue of $2.11 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.10 billion. Victoria’s Secret & Co. had a net margin of 2.47% and a return on equity of 44.74%. Equities research analysts anticipate that Victoria’s Secret & Co. will post 2.37 EPS for the current fiscal year.

About Victoria’s Secret & Co.

Victoria’s Secret & Co operates as a lingerie, clothing and beauty retailer. It offers bras, panties, lingerie, pajamas, sleep, sport and swim apparel, and beauty products. The company was founded in 1963 and is headquartered in Reynoldsburg, OH.