Coty (COTY) Lowered to “Sell” at Zacks Investment Research

Zacks Investment Research lowered shares of Coty (NYSE:COTY) from a hold rating to a sell rating in a research note released on Monday.

According to Zacks, “Coty has lagged the industry in a year due to weakness in the Consumer Beauty unit. This along with supply-chain hurdles marred second-quarter fiscal 2019 results, wherein both top and bottom lines fell year over year. Revenues were hit by supply-chain woes in all units, with Consumer Beauty and Professional Beauty being especially weak. The Consumer Beauty unit has long been pressurized by supply-chain disruptions and persistent softness in mass beauty categories in the United States and Europe. While management is making efforts to revive this unit and mitigate supply-chain woes, we are yet to see if these can be fully countered in the near term. Nonetheless, Coty’s Luxury unit continued with its strong show in the second quarter, driven by the inclusion of Burberry and growth in core portfolio. Moreover, the company is on track with saving efforts, which provided some cushion to operating income.”

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COTY has been the topic of a number of other research reports. TheStreet lowered shares of Coty from a c- rating to a d+ rating in a research report on Friday, December 7th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded shares of Coty from an underweight rating to a neutral rating and set a $7.00 target price on the stock in a research report on Friday, January 4th. Jefferies Financial Group set a $10.00 target price on shares of Coty and gave the company a hold rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 7th. Morgan Stanley restated an equal weight rating and issued a $10.00 target price (down previously from $14.50) on shares of Coty in a research report on Thursday, November 8th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets upgraded shares of Coty from a market perform rating to an outperform rating and set a $12.00 target price on the stock in a research report on Thursday, November 15th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Coty currently has a consensus rating of Hold and a consensus target price of $12.68.

NYSE COTY opened at $11.08 on Monday. The company has a current ratio of 0.96, a quick ratio of 0.66 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.99. The company has a market cap of $8.39 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.02, a PEG ratio of 2.60 and a beta of 0.81. Coty has a 1 year low of $5.91 and a 1 year high of $21.68.

Coty (NYSE:COTY) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Friday, February 8th. The company reported $0.24 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the Thomson Reuters’ consensus estimate of $0.22 by $0.02. The business had revenue of $2.51 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.47 billion. Coty had a negative net margin of 13.58% and a positive return on equity of 5.38%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 4.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.32 EPS. Equities analysts expect that Coty will post 0.63 EPS for the current year.

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 15th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, February 28th will be given a $0.125 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, February 27th. This represents a $0.50 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.51%. Coty’s dividend payout ratio is currently 72.46%.

In related news, major shareholder Cosmetics B.V. Jab bought 1,470,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, November 19th. The shares were purchased at an average price of $9.23 per share, for a total transaction of $13,568,100.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 299,578,041 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,765,105,318.43. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Company insiders own 1.20% of the company’s stock.

Large investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Pearl River Capital LLC acquired a new position in shares of Coty during the fourth quarter worth $56,000. Advisor Partners LLC acquired a new position in shares of Coty during the fourth quarter worth $70,000. Delta Asset Management LLC TN lifted its holdings in shares of Coty by 12.5% during the fourth quarter. Delta Asset Management LLC TN now owns 10,825 shares of the company’s stock worth $71,000 after purchasing an additional 1,200 shares during the period. Pitcairn Co. acquired a new position in shares of Coty during the fourth quarter worth $78,000. Finally, Municipal Employees Retirement System of Michigan acquired a new position in shares of Coty during the fourth quarter worth $80,000. Institutional investors own 66.98% of the company’s stock.

Coty Company Profile

Coty Inc, together with its subsidiaries, manufactures, markets, distributes, and sells beauty products worldwide. It operates in three segments: Luxury, Consumer Beauty, and Professional Beauty. The Luxury segment offers prestige fragrances, and skincare and cosmetics products through various retailers, including perfumeries, department stores, and duty-free shops under the Alexander McQueen, Balenciaga, Burberry, Bottega Veneta, Calvin Klein, Cavalli, Chloe, Davidoff, Escada, Gucci, Hugo Boss, Jil Sander, Joop!, Lacoste, Lancaster, Marc Jacobs, Miu Miu, philosophy, Stella McCartney, and Tiffany & Co brands.

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