Victoria’s Secret & Co. (NYSE:VSCO) Shares Gap Up – Should You Buy?

Victoria’s Secret & Co. (NYSE:VSCO) shares gapped up before the market opened on Friday . The stock had previously closed at $38.33, but opened at $39.75. Victoria’s Secret & Co. shares last traded at $38.94, with a volume of 403,532 shares changing hands.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have recently weighed in on VSCO. Wells Fargo & Company reiterated an “equal weight” rating and issued a $45.00 price objective (up from $33.00) on shares of Victoria’s Secret & Co. in a research report on Monday, December 9th. UBS Group raised shares of Victoria’s Secret & Co. from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating and boosted their price objective for the company from $18.00 to $47.00 in a research report on Tuesday, December 10th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised shares of Victoria’s Secret & Co. from an “underweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and raised their target price for the stock from $29.00 to $45.00 in a research report on Monday, December 9th. BMO Capital Markets lifted their target price on shares of Victoria’s Secret & Co. from $33.00 to $46.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, December 6th. Finally, Telsey Advisory Group reissued a “market perform” rating and issued a $40.00 price target on shares of Victoria’s Secret & Co. in a research note on Friday, December 6th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $37.55.

Victoria’s Secret & Co. Stock Down 0.9 %

The stock has a market cap of $2.99 billion, a PE ratio of 19.69, a PEG ratio of 2.28 and a beta of 2.14. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.12, a current ratio of 1.17 and a quick ratio of 0.33. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $40.56 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $29.90.

Victoria’s Secret & Co. (NYSE:VSCO) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, December 5th. The company reported ($0.50) earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($0.62) by $0.12. The firm had revenue of $1.35 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.29 billion. Victoria’s Secret & Co. had a net margin of 2.47% and a return on equity of 44.74%. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned ($0.86) earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 6.5% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts expect that Victoria’s Secret & Co. will post 2.31 EPS for the current year.

Institutional Trading of Victoria’s Secret & Co.

Several large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in VSCO. Forest Avenue Capital Management LP purchased a new stake in shares of Victoria’s Secret & Co. in the 3rd quarter worth $40,861,000. Dark Forest Capital Management LP purchased a new stake in Victoria’s Secret & Co. in the second quarter worth about $589,000. Oliver Luxxe Assets LLC bought a new position in shares of Victoria’s Secret & Co. in the fourth quarter worth about $1,963,000. MetLife Investment Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Victoria’s Secret & Co. by 129.1% during the 3rd quarter. MetLife Investment Management LLC now owns 45,652 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,173,000 after acquiring an additional 25,723 shares during the period. Finally, Alpha DNA Investment Management LLC purchased a new stake in Victoria’s Secret & Co. in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $408,000. 90.29% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

About Victoria’s Secret & Co.

Victoria's Secret & Co operates as a specialty retailer of women's intimate, and other apparel and beauty products worldwide. It offers bras, panties, lingerie, casual sleepwear, and athleisure and swim, as well as fragrances and body care; and loungewear, knit tops, activewear, and accessories and beauty under the Victoria's Secret, PINK, and Adore Me brands.