Berenberg Bank Reaffirms Hold Rating for Coty (NYSE:COTY)

Key Points

• Berenberg Bank has reiterated a "hold" rating for Coty, with a revised price target of $5.05, down from $6.50, suggesting an upside potential of 18.82% from its current price.
• Coty's quarterly earnings report revealed a loss of ($0.05) EPS, missing analyst estimates, and a revenue of $1.25 billion, down 8.1% year-over-year.
• Insider trading indicates confidence, as the CFO and another insider recently purchased shares, increasing their ownership stake in the company.

Coty (NYSE:COTY - Get Free Report)'s stock had its "hold" rating restated by investment analysts at Berenberg Bank in a research report issued to clients and investors on Wednesday, MarketBeat.com reports. They presently have a $5.05 target price on the stock, down from their prior target price of $6.50. Berenberg Bank's price target would indicate a potential upside of 20.10% from the company's previous close.

Several other analysts have also issued reports on the company. Evercore ISI dropped their target price on Coty from $10.00 to $7.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, August 21st. Morgan Stanley dropped their target price on Coty from $5.00 to $4.25 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a report on Monday, August 25th. Jefferies Financial Group lowered Coty from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating and dropped their price objective for the company from $6.00 to $4.00 in a research note on Thursday, August 21st. Canaccord Genuity Group dropped their price objective on Coty from $5.00 to $4.00 and set a "hold" rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, August 22nd. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group dropped their price objective on Coty from $6.00 to $4.50 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, August 22nd. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, fifteen have assigned a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Coty has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $6.06.

Coty Stock Up 2.8%

COTY traded up $0.12 on Wednesday, hitting $4.21. 2,554,509 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 8,247,960. Coty has a 12 month low of $3.67 and a 12 month high of $9.70. The company has a market cap of $3.67 billion, a PE ratio of -9.56, a PEG ratio of 0.27 and a beta of 2.07. 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 stock's fifty day moving average is $4.67 and its 200-day moving average is $4.95.

Coty (NYSE:COTY - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, August 20th. The company reported ($0.05) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.01 by ($0.06). Coty had a positive return on equity of 5.18% and a negative net margin of 6.24%.The company had revenue of $1.25 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.20 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted ($0.03) EPS. The business's revenue was down 8.1% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts predict that Coty will post 0.39 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Transactions at Coty

In other news, CEO Sue Nabi bought 260,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 22nd. The shares were bought at an average price of $3.92 per share, for a total transaction of $1,019,200.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the chief executive officer owned 32,127,286 shares in the company, valued at approximately $125,938,961.12. This trade represents a 0.82% increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, insider Priya Srinivasan bought 30,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 22nd. The shares were purchased at an average price of $3.84 per share, for a total transaction of $115,200.00. Following the purchase, the insider owned 37,509 shares of the company's stock, valued at $144,034.56. This trade represents a 399.52% increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Insiders have purchased a total of 334,900 shares of company stock worth $1,321,840 in the last ninety days. 6.00% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Coty

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of Coty by 5.8% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 37,645,488 shares of the company's stock worth $205,921,000 after purchasing an additional 2,055,771 shares during the period. BNP Paribas Financial Markets grew its position in Coty by 0.8% during the second quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 34,460,292 shares of the company's stock worth $160,240,000 after buying an additional 267,261 shares in the last quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. grew its position in Coty by 10.5% during the first quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 22,346,995 shares of the company's stock worth $122,239,000 after buying an additional 2,132,613 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in Coty during the second quarter worth approximately $52,449,000. Finally, Thrivent Financial for Lutherans grew its position in Coty by 0.3% during the second quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans now owns 8,026,308 shares of the company's stock worth $37,322,000 after buying an additional 25,666 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 42.36% of the company's stock.

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.