Legal & General Group Plc Sells 1,174,791 Shares of Vipshop Holdings Limited (NYSE:VIPS)

Legal & General Group Plc lowered its stake in Vipshop Holdings Limited (NYSE:VIPS) by 28.8% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 2,898,689 shares of the technology company’s stock after selling 1,174,791 shares during the quarter. Legal & General Group Plc’s holdings in Vipshop were worth $39,045,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of VIPS. Blue Trust Inc. raised its position in shares of Vipshop by 17.5% during the fourth 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 last quarter. Atomi Financial Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of Vipshop by 10.8% during the fourth quarter. Atomi Financial Group Inc. now owns 12,241 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $165,000 after buying an additional 1,191 shares during the last quarter. Vontobel Holding Ltd. bought a new position in Vipshop in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $165,000. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB bought a new stake in shares of Vipshop during the 4th quarter valued at $175,000. Finally, Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd bought a new position in shares of Vipshop in the 4th quarter worth $210,000. Institutional investors own 48.82% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts have recently commented on VIPS shares. Citigroup cut Vipshop from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $18.00 price target for the company. in a research note on Tuesday, April 1st. Barclays upped their price target on shares of Vipshop from $19.00 to $20.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 25th. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded shares of Vipshop from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, February 21st. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $15.30.

Vipshop Price Performance

Vipshop stock opened at $12.60 on Friday. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $15.39 and a 200-day moving average of $14.62. The company has a market cap of $6.47 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 6.03, a P/E/G ratio of 1.52 and a beta of 0.53. Vipshop Holdings Limited has a one year low of $11.50 and a one year high of $17.94.

Vipshop (NYSE:VIPS) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 26th. The technology company reported $0.65 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate 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 for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.82 billion. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Vipshop Holdings Limited will post 1.95 earnings per share for the current year.

Vipshop Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared an annual dividend, which will be paid on Friday, April 25th. Shareholders of record on Friday, April 11th will be given a dividend of $0.43 per share. This represents a yield of 2.9%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, April 11th. Vipshop’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 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.