Perrigo (NYSE:PRGO) Cut to “Hold” at Argus

Argus downgraded shares of Perrigo (NYSE:PRGO) from a buy rating to a hold rating in a research note released on Tuesday, Marketbeat reports.

PRGO has been the subject of a number of other research reports. Canaccord Genuity Group reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $42.00 target price on shares of Perrigo in a research note on Monday, September 30th. Jefferies Financial Group reaffirmed a “hold” rating and set a $30.00 target price (down previously from $50.00) on shares of Perrigo in a research note on Monday, September 23rd. Piper Sandler downgraded shares of Perrigo from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and decreased their target price for the company from $34.00 to $27.00 in a research note on Monday, January 6th. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded shares of Perrigo from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, January 11th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $35.00.

Perrigo Price Performance

PRGO stock opened at $23.85 on Tuesday. Perrigo has a 1 year low of $23.14 and a 1 year high of $33.96. The company has a market cap of $3.25 billion, a P/E ratio of -20.38 and a beta of 0.53. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $26.60 and a 200 day moving average of $26.77. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.94, a current ratio of 2.56 and a quick ratio of 1.77.

Perrigo (NYSE:PRGO) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, November 6th. The company reported $0.81 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, hitting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.81. Perrigo had a negative net margin of 3.64% and a positive return on equity of 7.38%. The company had revenue of $1.09 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.12 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.64 earnings per share. Perrigo’s revenue was down 3.2% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Perrigo will post 2.56 EPS for the current year.

Perrigo Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, December 17th. Stockholders of record on Friday, November 29th were issued a dividend of $0.276 per share. This represents a $1.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.63%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, November 29th. Perrigo’s payout ratio is -94.02%.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Jeffrey B. Kindler sold 17,598 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $28.27, for a total transaction of $497,495.46. Following the sale, the director now owns 5,409 shares in the company, valued at $152,912.43. This represents a 76.49 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 0.40% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Perrigo

A number of institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its holdings in shares of Perrigo by 3.6% during the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 7,162,656 shares of the company’s stock valued at $183,935,000 after buying an additional 249,640 shares during the last quarter. Deprince Race & Zollo Inc. boosted its holdings in Perrigo by 11.2% in the second quarter. Deprince Race & Zollo Inc. now owns 3,882,438 shares of the company’s stock worth $99,701,000 after purchasing an additional 391,646 shares during the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its holdings in Perrigo by 229.2% in the third quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 2,697,698 shares of the company’s stock worth $70,761,000 after purchasing an additional 1,878,145 shares during the last quarter. Copeland Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in Perrigo by 23.1% in the third quarter. Copeland Capital Management LLC now owns 2,482,544 shares of the company’s stock worth $65,117,000 after purchasing an additional 465,161 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Sound Shore Management Inc. CT boosted its holdings in Perrigo by 5.2% in the second quarter. Sound Shore Management Inc. CT now owns 2,391,049 shares of the company’s stock worth $61,402,000 after purchasing an additional 117,230 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 95.91% of the company’s stock.

Perrigo Company Profile

Perrigo Company plc provides over-the-counter health and wellness solutions to enhance individual well-being in the United States, Europe, and internationally. It operates through Consumer Self-Care Americas and Consumer Self-Care International segments. The company develops, manufactures, markets, and distributes self-care consumer products, such as upper respiratory products, including cough suppressants, expectorants, and sinus and allergy relief; nutrition products consisting of infant formulas and nutritional beverages; digestive health products, including antacids, anti-diarrheal, and anti-heartburn; pain and sleep-aids products comprising pain relievers and fever reducers; and oral care products, which include toothbrushes, toothbrush replacement heads, floss, flossers, whitening products, and toothbrush covers.