StockNews.com Lowers Herbalife (NYSE:HLF) to Hold

StockNews.com cut shares of Herbalife (NYSE:HLF) from a buy rating to a hold rating in a research note issued to investors on Thursday.

A number of other brokerages have also recently commented on HLF. B. Riley lifted their price objective on shares of Herbalife from $16.00 to $17.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a research note on Thursday, August 1st. Mizuho lifted their price objective on shares of Herbalife from $10.00 to $11.00 and gave the stock a neutral rating in a research note on Friday, June 7th. Finally, DA Davidson lifted their price objective on shares of Herbalife from $9.50 to $13.00 and gave the stock a neutral rating in a research note on Thursday, August 1st. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating and one has assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of Hold and a consensus target price of $12.33.

Herbalife Stock Performance

HLF opened at $7.53 on Thursday. The stock has a market capitalization of $752.76 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 5.50 and a beta of 1.20. The company has a fifty day moving average of $9.86 and a 200 day moving average of $9.75. Herbalife has a fifty-two week low of $6.68 and a fifty-two week high of $15.71.

Herbalife (NYSE:HLF) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, July 31st. The company reported $0.54 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.43 by $0.11. The company had revenue of $1.28 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.33 billion. Herbalife had a net margin of 1.63% and a negative return on equity of 18.69%. Herbalife’s quarterly revenue was down 2.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company posted $0.74 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Herbalife will post 0.9 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Director Juan Miguel Mendoza purchased 10,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 26th. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $8.72 per share, with a total value of $87,200.00. Following the purchase, the director now owns 110,000 shares in the company, valued at $959,200. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. 0.94% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Herbalife

Large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Van ECK Associates Corp lifted its holdings in Herbalife by 10.3% during the 2nd quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 8,684 shares of the company’s stock valued at $90,000 after buying an additional 808 shares in the last quarter. Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio lifted its holdings in Herbalife by 22.9% during the 1st quarter. Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio now owns 5,558 shares of the company’s stock valued at $56,000 after buying an additional 1,035 shares in the last quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA lifted its holdings in Herbalife by 3.5% during the 2nd quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 41,678 shares of the company’s stock valued at $433,000 after buying an additional 1,399 shares in the last quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in Herbalife by 8.6% during the 1st quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC now owns 17,767 shares of the company’s stock valued at $179,000 after buying an additional 1,400 shares in the last quarter. Finally, SummerHaven Investment Management LLC lifted its holdings in Herbalife by 2.6% during the 2nd quarter. SummerHaven Investment Management LLC now owns 58,409 shares of the company’s stock valued at $607,000 after buying an additional 1,465 shares in 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.