Herbalife’s (HLF) “Neutral” Rating Reaffirmed at DA Davidson

DA Davidson reissued their neutral rating on shares of Herbalife (NYSE:HLF) in a report published on Thursday, Benzinga reports. The firm currently has a $9.50 target price on the stock.

Several other analysts also recently weighed in on HLF. StockNews.com upgraded Herbalife from a hold rating to a buy rating in a research note on Friday, February 16th. Mizuho lowered their price objective on Herbalife from $12.00 to $10.00 and set a neutral rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, March 21st. Finally, Bank of America cut their target price on Herbalife from $10.00 to $8.00 and set an underperform rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, March 21st. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating and one has issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of Hold and an average price target of $10.50.

Herbalife Stock Up 2.1 %

Shares of NYSE HLF traded up $0.20 on Thursday, hitting $9.58. The company had a trading volume of 3,175,077 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,315,448. The firm has a market capitalization of $957.71 million, a P/E ratio of 6.99 and a beta of 1.24. Herbalife has a 12-month low of $6.68 and a 12-month high of $19.48. The business has a 50 day moving average of $8.82 and a two-hundred day moving average of $11.58.

Herbalife (NYSE:HLF) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, May 1st. The company reported $0.49 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.37 by $0.12. Herbalife had a net margin of 2.70% and a negative return on equity of 19.97%. The company had revenue of $1.30 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.26 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $0.54 earnings per share. Herbalife’s revenue for the quarter was up 3.8% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Herbalife will post 1.68 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Herbalife

In other news, EVP Henry C. Wang purchased 2,778 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 26th. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $9.30 per share, with a total value of $25,835.40. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 176,194 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,638,604.20. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. In other Herbalife news, EVP Henry C. Wang acquired 2,778 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 26th. The stock was acquired at an average price of $9.30 per share, with a total value of $25,835.40. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 176,194 shares in the company, valued at $1,638,604.20. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, CEO Michael Johnson acquired 61,725 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 16th. The shares were acquired at an average price of $8.07 per share, for a total transaction of $498,120.75. Following the purchase, the chief executive officer now owns 603,707 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,871,915.49. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Insiders have bought 85,757 shares of company stock worth $723,278 over the last quarter. 0.94% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. PEAK6 Investments LLC bought a new stake in Herbalife in the third quarter valued at $146,000. DGS Capital Management LLC bought a new stake in Herbalife in the 4th quarter valued at about $165,000. SG Americas Securities LLC acquired a new position in Herbalife during the 4th quarter valued at about $184,000. Teacher Retirement System of Texas bought a new position in Herbalife in the 4th quarter worth about $258,000. Finally, Hollencrest Capital Management increased its stake in shares of Herbalife by 21.3% in the first quarter. Hollencrest Capital Management now owns 17,100 shares of the company’s stock valued at $172,000 after purchasing an additional 3,000 shares during the period.

About Herbalife

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.