Herbalife (NYSE:HLF) Downgraded to Hold Rating by Wall Street Zen

Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Herbalife (NYSE:HLF) from a buy rating to a hold rating in a report issued on Thursday morning.

HLF has been the topic of a number of other reports. Citigroup reduced their target price on shares of Herbalife from $13.00 to $11.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. DA Davidson raised Herbalife from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their price objective for the stock from $7.50 to $14.00 in a research note on Friday, March 21st. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Herbalife presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $11.50.

Herbalife Stock Up 2.7%

HLF opened at $6.96 on Thursday. The business has a fifty day moving average of $7.31 and a 200 day moving average of $7.23. Herbalife has a 52-week low of $5.04 and a 52-week high of $12.79. The stock has a market cap of $708.86 million, a P/E ratio of 2.80, a PEG ratio of 0.29 and a beta of 0.88.

Herbalife (NYSE:HLF) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, April 30th. The company reported $0.59 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.40 by $0.19. The business had revenue of $1.22 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.23 billion. Herbalife had a negative return on equity of 20.78% and a net margin of 5.09%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 3.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.49 earnings per share. Equities analysts anticipate that Herbalife will post 1.57 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Herbalife news, Director Juan Miguel Mendoza acquired 5,000 shares of Herbalife stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 2nd. The stock was bought at an average price of $6.73 per share, with a total value of $33,650.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the director now directly owns 140,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $942,200. This represents a 3.70% increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Insiders have acquired a total of 12,500 shares of company stock worth $94,900 in the last three months. Corporate insiders own 1.73% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Herbalife

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership raised its position in shares of Herbalife by 777.0% in the 4th quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 2,987,490 shares of the company’s stock worth $19,986,000 after acquiring an additional 2,646,848 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in Herbalife by 10.9% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 12,495,374 shares of the company’s stock valued at $107,835,000 after purchasing an additional 1,223,957 shares during the last quarter. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. raised its holdings in Herbalife by 67.0% in the fourth quarter. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. now owns 2,570,226 shares of the company’s stock worth $17,195,000 after purchasing an additional 1,031,078 shares in the last quarter. Long Focus Capital Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Herbalife by 27.3% during the fourth quarter. Long Focus Capital Management LLC now owns 4,758,127 shares of the company’s stock valued at $31,832,000 after buying an additional 1,020,127 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Cubist Systematic Strategies LLC lifted its position in shares of Herbalife by 6,837.9% during the first quarter. Cubist Systematic Strategies LLC now owns 889,400 shares of the company’s stock valued at $7,676,000 after buying an additional 902,600 shares during the last quarter.

Herbalife Company Profile

Herbalife Ltd. provides health and wellness products in North America, Mexico, South and Central America, Europe, the Middle East, Africa, China, and the Asia Pacific. It offers products in the areas of weight management; targeted nutrition; energy, sports, and fitness; outer nutrition; and literature and promotional items.