Short Interest in Herbalife Ltd. (NYSE:HLF) Declines By 7.7%

Herbalife Ltd. (NYSE:HLF) was the recipient of a significant drop in short interest in March. As of March 31st, there was short interest totalling 12,070,000 shares, a drop of 7.7% from the March 15th total of 13,080,000 shares. Approximately 12.7% of the shares of the stock are short sold. Based on an average daily volume of 2,280,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 5.3 days.

Insider Activity

In other Herbalife news, CEO Michael Johnson purchased 61,725 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 16th. The shares were bought at an average price of $8.07 per share, with a total value of $498,120.75. Following the completion of the purchase, the chief executive officer now directly owns 603,707 shares in the company, valued at $4,871,915.49. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In other news, Director Juan Miguel Mendoza bought 16,079 shares of Herbalife stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 26th. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $9.40 per share, for a total transaction of $151,142.60. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director now owns 54,622 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $513,446.80. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, CEO Michael Johnson acquired 61,725 shares of Herbalife stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 16th. The shares were purchased at an average price of $8.07 per share, with a total value of $498,120.75. Following the purchase, the chief executive officer now owns 603,707 shares in the company, valued at $4,871,915.49. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Insiders bought a total of 85,757 shares of company stock worth $723,278 over the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 0.94% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in HLF. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. grew its stake in Herbalife by 6.5% in the 1st quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 12,308 shares of the company’s stock valued at $374,000 after acquiring an additional 747 shares during the last quarter. Advisor Group Holdings Inc. increased its position in Herbalife by 50.0% during the first quarter. Advisor Group Holdings Inc. now owns 4,243 shares of the company’s stock worth $128,000 after buying an additional 1,415 shares in the last quarter. Citigroup Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Herbalife by 8.9% in the first quarter. Citigroup Inc. now owns 18,413 shares of the company’s stock worth $559,000 after acquiring an additional 1,503 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its position in shares of Herbalife by 1.8% in the first quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,011,947 shares of the company’s stock valued at $30,723,000 after acquiring an additional 17,482 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Canada Pension Plan Investment Board acquired a new stake in shares of Herbalife during the first quarter valued at $379,000.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages have commented on HLF. DA Davidson dropped their price objective on Herbalife from $11.00 to $9.50 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, March 25th. Bank of America cut their price objective on Herbalife from $10.00 to $8.00 and set an “underperform” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, March 21st. Mizuho decreased their price target on shares of Herbalife from $12.00 to $10.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, March 21st. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded Herbalife from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, February 16th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating and one has given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Herbalife has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $10.50.

Herbalife Price Performance

Shares of HLF traded down $0.10 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, reaching $8.20. 1,487,272 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,245,701. The stock has a market capitalization of $818.28 million, a PE ratio of 5.77 and a beta of 1.22. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $9.17 and its 200-day simple moving average is $12.01. Herbalife has a 52-week low of $6.68 and a 52-week high of $19.48.

Herbalife (NYSE:HLF) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 14th. The company reported $0.28 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.38 by ($0.10). The firm had revenue of $1.20 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.19 billion. Herbalife had a net margin of 2.81% and a negative return on equity of 19.56%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up .0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $0.53 earnings per share. Equities research analysts predict that Herbalife will post 1.8 earnings per share for the current year.

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.