Jennison Associates LLC Invests $674,000 in Helen of Troy Limited (NASDAQ:HELE)

Jennison Associates LLC bought a new stake in Helen of Troy Limited (NASDAQ:HELE) during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor bought 10,895 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $674,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. CWM LLC grew its stake in Helen of Troy by 374.6% during the 2nd quarter. CWM LLC now owns 280 shares of the company’s stock valued at $26,000 after purchasing an additional 221 shares during the last quarter. nVerses Capital LLC purchased a new stake in Helen of Troy in the second quarter valued at approximately $28,000. Signaturefd LLC acquired a new position in Helen of Troy in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $61,000. Bessemer Group Inc. raised its position in Helen of Troy by 153.7% during the 1st quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. now owns 576 shares of the company’s stock worth $67,000 after buying an additional 349 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Quadrature Capital Ltd acquired a new stake in Helen of Troy during the 1st quarter valued at approximately $263,000.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts have recently weighed in on HELE shares. Canaccord Genuity Group reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $84.00 price objective on shares of Helen of Troy in a research note on Monday, October 7th. DA Davidson upped their price target on shares of Helen of Troy from $67.00 to $71.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, October 10th.

Helen of Troy Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ HELE opened at $69.92 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.45, a current ratio of 1.77 and a quick ratio of 0.85. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.60 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.69, a PEG ratio of 1.36 and a beta of 0.85. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $64.36 and its 200-day simple moving average is $72.58. Helen of Troy Limited has a 12 month low of $48.05 and a 12 month high of $127.83.

Helen of Troy (NASDAQ:HELE) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 9th. The company reported $1.21 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.05 by $0.16. The company had revenue of $474.20 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $458.85 million. Helen of Troy had a net margin of 7.35% and a return on equity of 9.31%. The firm’s revenue was down 3.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $1.45 earnings per share. Analysts expect that Helen of Troy Limited will post 6.35 EPS for the current year.

Helen of Troy declared that its board has authorized a share repurchase program on Thursday, September 5th that allows the company to repurchase $500.00 million in shares. This repurchase authorization allows the company to reacquire up to 39.8% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are often a sign that the company’s management believes its stock is undervalued.

Helen of Troy Company Profile

Helen of Troy Limited provides various consumer products in the United States, Canada, Europe, the Middle East, Africa, the Asia Pacific, and Latin America. The company operates in two segments: Home & Outdoor and Beauty & Wellness. The Home & Outdoor segment offers food storage containers, kitchen utensils for cooking and preparing salads, fruits, vegetables and meats, graters, slicers and choppers, baking essentials, kitchen organization, bath, cleaning, infant and toddler products, and coffee preparation tools and electronics; and insulated beverageware, including bottles, travel tumblers, drinkware, mugs, food and lunch containers, insulated totes, soft coolers, outdoor kitchenware, and accessories.