Herbalife (NYSE:HLF) Cut to Hold at StockNews.com

StockNews.com cut shares of Herbalife (NYSE:HLF) from a buy rating to a hold rating in a research report released on Tuesday morning.

A number of other brokerages have also recently issued reports on HLF. DA Davidson boosted their price objective on shares of Herbalife from $9.50 to $13.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, August 1st. B. Riley boosted their target price on Herbalife from $16.00 to $17.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 1st. One investment 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. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $12.50.

Herbalife Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:HLF opened at $6.73 on Tuesday. The company has a 50 day moving average of $7.43 and a 200-day moving average of $9.33. The stock has a market cap of $672.28 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 4.91, a P/E/G ratio of 0.27 and a beta of 1.19. Herbalife has a one year low of $6.59 and a one year high of $15.66.

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

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Juan Miguel Mendoza acquired 10,000 shares of Herbalife stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 26th. The stock was bought at an average cost of $8.72 per share, with a total value of $87,200.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 110,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $959,200. This represents a 0.00 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 0.94% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Herbalife

Several institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. GAMMA Investing LLC grew its stake in shares of Herbalife by 465.3% during the 2nd quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 3,533 shares of the company’s stock worth $37,000 after acquiring an additional 2,908 shares in the last quarter. nVerses Capital LLC grew its position in Herbalife by 240.0% in the second quarter. nVerses Capital LLC now owns 5,100 shares of the company’s stock valued at $53,000 after purchasing an additional 3,600 shares in the last quarter. Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio increased its stake 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 buying an additional 1,035 shares during the last quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp lifted its position in Herbalife by 10.3% during the 2nd quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 8,684 shares of the company’s stock worth $90,000 after buying an additional 808 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Foundry Partners LLC acquired a new position in shares of Herbalife during the 1st quarter worth about $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.