Coty Sees Unusually Large Options Volume (NYSE:COTY)

Coty (NYSE:COTY) was the recipient of unusually large options trading activity on Wednesday. Investors purchased 2,116 call options on the company. Thisisanincreaseof27% compared to the typical volume of 1,667 call options.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have commented on COTY. Morgan Stanley lowered their price objective on shares of Coty from $5.00 to $4.25 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Monday. Bank of America reduced their target price on shares of Coty from $4.00 to $3.50 and set an “underperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, August 22nd. The Goldman Sachs Group reduced their price target on shares of Coty from $6.00 to $4.50 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, August 22nd. Royal Bank Of Canada reduced their price target on shares of Coty from $12.00 to $10.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, August 22nd. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price target on shares of Coty from $6.00 to $5.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, May 8th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, fourteen have assigned a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $6.19.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CEO Sue Nabi bought 260,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 22nd. The stock was purchased at an average price of $3.92 per share, for a total transaction of $1,019,200.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 32,127,286 shares in the company, valued at $125,938,961.12. The trade was a 0.82% increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, insider Priya Srinivasan bought 30,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 22nd. The shares were bought at an average price of $3.84 per share, with a total value of $115,200.00. Following the transaction, the insider owned 37,509 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $144,034.56. The trade was a 399.52% increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Corporate insiders own 6.00% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of Coty in the 2nd quarter valued at about $52,449,000. Man Group plc bought a new stake in shares of Coty in the 4th quarter valued at about $28,473,000. Squarepoint Ops LLC bought a new stake in shares of Coty in the 2nd quarter valued at about $15,829,000. AQR Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Coty by 456.9% in the 1st quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 4,063,070 shares of the company’s stock valued at $21,981,000 after buying an additional 3,333,511 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Assenagon Asset Management S.A. boosted its holdings in shares of Coty by 162.2% in the 1st quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 4,300,292 shares of the company’s stock valued at $23,523,000 after buying an additional 2,660,221 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 42.36% of the company’s stock.

Coty Trading Up 14.0%

NYSE COTY opened at $4.21 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.06, a quick ratio of 0.46 and a current ratio of 0.77. The company has a market capitalization of $3.67 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -9.56, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.56 and a beta of 2.00. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $4.80 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $5.09. Coty has a one year low of $3.67 and a one year high of $9.70.

Coty (NYSE:COTY) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, August 20th. The company reported ($0.05) EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.01 by ($0.06). The business had revenue of $1.25 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.20 billion. Coty had a negative net margin of 6.24% and a positive return on equity of 5.18%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 8.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business posted ($0.03) EPS. Equities analysts forecast that Coty will post 0.39 EPS 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.