Short Interest in Herbalife Ltd. (NYSE:HLF) Decreases By 5.8%

Herbalife Ltd. (NYSE:HLF) was the target of a large decrease in short interest during the month of August. As of August 31st, there was short interest totalling 14,710,000 shares, a decrease of 5.8% from the August 15th total of 15,610,000 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 2,020,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 7.3 days. Approximately 15.1% of the shares of the stock are sold short.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts have recently commented on HLF shares. Mizuho raised their target price on shares of Herbalife from $10.00 to $11.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, June 7th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Herbalife from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, September 13th. DA Davidson increased their target price on Herbalife from $9.50 to $13.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 1st. Finally, B. Riley lifted their price target 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. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $12.33.

Herbalife Trading Up 0.5 %

NYSE:HLF opened at $7.10 on Wednesday. Herbalife has a 12 month low of $6.68 and a 12 month high of $15.71. The firm has a market cap of $709.27 million, a P/E ratio of 5.18 and a beta of 1.20. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $9.35 and a two-hundred day moving average of $9.69.

Herbalife (NYSE:HLF) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, July 31st. The company reported $0.54 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.43 by $0.11. The company had revenue of $1.28 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.33 billion. Herbalife had a negative return on equity of 18.69% and a net margin of 1.63%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 2.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.74 earnings per share. On average, research analysts forecast that Herbalife will post 1.34 earnings per share for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Juan Miguel Mendoza purchased 10,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, September 9th. The shares were acquired at an average price of $7.11 per share, for a total transaction of $71,100.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 120,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $853,200. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Corporate insiders own 0.94% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Herbalife

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. GAMMA Investing LLC grew its stake in shares of Herbalife by 465.3% in the 2nd quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 3,533 shares of the company’s stock valued at $37,000 after purchasing an additional 2,908 shares during the last quarter. nVerses Capital LLC raised its holdings in shares of Herbalife by 240.0% in the second quarter. nVerses Capital LLC now owns 5,100 shares of the company’s stock worth $53,000 after acquiring an additional 3,600 shares during the last quarter. Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio lifted its holdings in Herbalife by 22.9% in the 1st quarter. Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio now owns 5,558 shares of the company’s stock valued at $56,000 after purchasing an additional 1,035 shares in the last quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp lifted its stake in shares of Herbalife by 10.3% during the second 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 during the period. Finally, Foundry Partners LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Herbalife during the first quarter worth $105,000.

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.