Vipshop Target of Unusually High Options Trading (NYSE:VIPS)

Vipshop Holdings Limited (NYSE:VIPS) saw some unusual options trading activity on Friday. Traders purchased 5,564 call options on the company. This represents an increase of 115% compared to the typical volume of 2,588 call options.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Vipshop

A number of large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Krane Funds Advisors LLC lifted its stake in Vipshop by 20.3% in the second quarter. Krane Funds Advisors LLC now owns 15,737,381 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $204,901,000 after buying an additional 2,659,117 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in Vipshop by 1.8% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 13,762,669 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $227,772,000 after purchasing an additional 248,743 shares during the period. FIL Ltd grew its position in Vipshop by 31.2% in the 4th quarter. FIL Ltd now owns 10,911,703 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $193,792,000 after purchasing an additional 2,593,670 shares during the last quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. grew its position in Vipshop by 28.0% in the 4th quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 10,394,122 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $184,600,000 after purchasing an additional 2,273,198 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its stake in shares of Vipshop by 5.4% in the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 6,739,378 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $87,771,000 after purchasing an additional 343,739 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 48.82% of the company’s stock.

Vipshop Stock Performance

Shares of VIPS stock opened at $17.44 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $9.46 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 8.11 and a beta of 0.34. Vipshop has a one year low of $11.50 and a one year high of $20.19. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $13.58 and its 200-day simple moving average is $14.83.

Vipshop (NYSE:VIPS) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, August 20th. The technology company reported $3.91 earnings per share for the quarter, beating 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 firm had revenue of $25.08 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $26.61 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $0.51 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 4.1% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts forecast that Vipshop will post 1.97 EPS for the current year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

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

About Vipshop

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.