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

Herbalife (NYSE:HLF)‘s stock had its “neutral” rating reiterated by equities researchers at DA Davidson in a research note issued to investors on Thursday, Benzinga reports. They presently have a $9.50 target price on the stock. DA Davidson’s price objective suggests a potential downside of 0.84% from the stock’s current price.

Several other analysts have also recently issued reports on HLF. StockNews.com raised Herbalife from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, February 16th. Bank of America dropped their price objective on Herbalife from $10.00 to $8.00 and set an “underperform” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, March 21st. Finally, Mizuho cut their price objective on Herbalife from $12.00 to $10.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, March 21st. 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. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $10.50.

Herbalife Price Performance

Herbalife stock traded up $0.20 during trading hours on Thursday, reaching $9.58. The company had a trading volume of 3,175,077 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,315,448. Herbalife has a 12-month low of $6.68 and a 12-month high of $19.48. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $8.82 and a 200 day moving average price of $11.58. The firm has a market cap of $957.71 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 6.99 and a beta of 1.24.

Herbalife (NYSE:HLF) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, May 1st. The company reported $0.49 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.37 by $0.12. The company had revenue of $1.30 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.26 billion. Herbalife had a net margin of 2.70% and a negative return on equity of 19.97%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 3.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.54 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts expect that Herbalife will post 1.68 earnings per share for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

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

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Iridian Asset Management LLC CT grew its stake in shares of Herbalife by 49.1% in the fourth quarter. Iridian Asset Management LLC CT now owns 1,468,636 shares of the company’s stock worth $22,411,000 after acquiring an additional 483,635 shares during the last quarter. UBS Group AG grew its position in Herbalife by 5.6% during the 3rd quarter. UBS Group AG now owns 3,989,128 shares of the company’s stock valued at $55,808,000 after purchasing an additional 209,949 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in Herbalife by 0.4% during the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 10,561,779 shares of the company’s stock valued at $147,759,000 after purchasing an additional 43,452 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its stake in Herbalife by 9.2% during the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,742,507 shares of the company’s stock valued at $24,378,000 after purchasing an additional 147,003 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Campbell & CO Investment Adviser LLC purchased a new position in Herbalife in the third quarter worth about $381,000.

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.