Vipshop Holdings Limited (NYSE:VIPS) Short Interest Up 42.2% in March

Vipshop Holdings Limited (NYSE:VIPS) was the recipient of a significant increase in short interest in March. As of March 15th, there was short interest totalling 8,730,000 shares, an increase of 42.2% from the February 28th total of 6,140,000 shares. Currently, 2.0% of the shares of the company are short sold. Based on an average daily volume of 3,540,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 2.5 days.

Institutional Trading of Vipshop

Several hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of VIPS. Hhlr Advisors LTD. lifted its position in shares of Vipshop by 6.2% during the 3rd quarter. Hhlr Advisors LTD. now owns 15,720,322 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $247,281,000 after buying an additional 914,322 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in Vipshop by 0.6% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 13,961,402 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $188,060,000 after acquiring an additional 79,254 shares during the period. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. lifted its holdings in Vipshop by 1.3% during the fourth quarter. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. now owns 11,107,555 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $149,619,000 after purchasing an additional 139,320 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its position in shares of Vipshop by 14.0% in the fourth quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 8,063,150 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $108,608,000 after purchasing an additional 993,042 shares during the period. Finally, Invesco Ltd. increased its stake in shares of Vipshop by 28.4% in the fourth quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 7,759,150 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $104,516,000 after purchasing an additional 1,718,159 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 48.82% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms recently commented on VIPS. Barclays lifted their price objective on Vipshop from $19.00 to $20.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 25th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Vipshop from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, February 21st. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Vipshop presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $15.10.

Vipshop Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE VIPS traded down $0.39 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $16.11. 1,659,208 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 3,839,955. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $15.51 and a 200 day moving average of $14.59. Vipshop has a 1 year low of $11.50 and a 1 year high of $17.94. The stock has a market capitalization 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.

Vipshop (NYSE:VIPS) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, February 26th. The technology company reported $0.65 earnings per share (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 business had revenue of $4.55 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.82 billion. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Vipshop will post 1.95 earnings per share for the current year.

Vipshop Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced an annual dividend, which will be paid on Friday, April 25th. Investors of record on Friday, April 11th will be given a dividend of $0.43 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, April 11th. This represents a 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.