Qatar Investment Authority raises stake in Tiffany & Co

The Qatar Investment Authority has raised its investment stake in Tiffany & Co. to 7.8 percent from 5.2 percent, according to a regulatory filing on Monday the 24th of December. The sovereign wealth fund based in Doha owns now nearly ten million shares.

According to the filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission, a Schedule 13G, presented earlier this week, the aggregate amount of shares owned by the Qatar fund is slightly more than 9.9 million shares. The shares were transferred on Dec. 17 to Qatar Holding USA LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of QIA, from Qatar Holding LLC, another wholly owned subsidiary of QIA.

Based in Doha, QIA is considered a sovereign wealth fund. It was founded by the State of Qatar in 2005 as an investment vehicle to diversify into asset classes beyond the state’s domestic positioning in natural resources.

Other Qatar investments include Harrods Group, which Qatar Holdings took control of in 2010 for 2.22 billion dollars; a 26 percent stake in British food retailer J. Sainsbury in 2010, and a 12.8 percent stake in French media group Lagardère SCA. It also has a 1.03 percent stake in LVMH Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton.

Thestreet.com has reaffirmed their buy rating on shares of Tiffany & Co. (NYSE: TIF) in a report issued on Friday.

Other equities research analysts have also recently issued reports about the stock. Analysts at Nomura reiterated a neutral rating on shares of Tiffany & Co. in a research note to investors on Monday, December 10th. They now have a 62 dollars price target on the stock.

Elsewhere, analysts at Zacks downgraded shares of Tiffany & Co. from a neutral rating to an underperform rating in a research note to investors on Monday, December 3rd. They now have a $53.00 price target on the stock. Finally, analysts at Deutsche Bank cut their price target on shares of Tiffany & Co. from 68 to 66.50 dollars in a research note to investors on Friday, November 30th. They now have a hold rating on the stock.

Shares of Tiffany & Co. traded down 0.93 percent during mid-day trading on Friday.