Loomis Sayles & Co. L P Sells 14,509 Shares of Vipshop Holdings Limited (NYSE:VIPS)

Loomis Sayles & Co. L P reduced its position in Vipshop Holdings Limited (NYSE:VIPS) by 20.6% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 55,887 shares of the technology company’s stock after selling 14,509 shares during the quarter. Loomis Sayles & Co. L P’s holdings in Vipshop were worth $753,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Blue Trust Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Vipshop by 17.5% during the 4th quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 9,972 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $134,000 after acquiring an additional 1,487 shares during the period. Atomi Financial Group Inc. increased its position in shares of Vipshop by 10.8% during the 4th quarter. Atomi Financial Group Inc. now owns 12,241 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $165,000 after purchasing an additional 1,191 shares in the last quarter. Vontobel Holding Ltd. bought a new position in Vipshop during the 4th quarter valued at about $165,000. Polymer Capital Management HK LTD bought a new position in shares of Vipshop in the third quarter valued at approximately $175,000. Finally, Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB acquired a new position in Vipshop in the fourth quarter worth $175,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 48.82% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have commented on VIPS. Barclays increased their price objective on shares of Vipshop from $19.00 to $20.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 25th. StockNews.com raised shares of Vipshop from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, February 21st. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $15.10.

Vipshop Price Performance

VIPS opened at $16.11 on Friday. Vipshop Holdings Limited has a fifty-two week low of $11.50 and a fifty-two week high of $17.94. The company has a market cap of $8.27 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 7.71, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.52 and a beta of 0.30. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $15.51 and a 200 day simple moving average of $14.57.

Vipshop (NYSE:VIPS) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 26th. The technology company reported $0.65 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.70 by ($0.05). Vipshop had a net margin of 7.50% and a return on equity of 20.89%. The company had revenue of $4.55 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.82 billion. As a group, analysts expect that Vipshop Holdings Limited will post 1.95 EPS for the current year.

Vipshop Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared an annual dividend, which will be paid on Friday, April 25th. Stockholders of record on Friday, April 11th will be paid a $0.43 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, April 11th. This represents a dividend yield of 2.9%. Vipshop’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 24.24%.

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.