Herbalife (NYSE:HLF) Upgraded by StockNews.com to “Strong-Buy” Rating

StockNews.com upgraded shares of Herbalife (NYSE:HLF) from a buy rating to a strong-buy rating in a research report released on Friday morning.

Separately, DA Davidson raised shares of Herbalife from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their target price for the company from $7.50 to $14.00 in a research report on Friday. One research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, three have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $12.00.

Herbalife Stock Performance

Shares of Herbalife stock opened at $8.42 on Friday. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $6.97 and a 200-day moving average of $7.22. The stock has a market cap of $852.89 million, a PE ratio of 3.38, a PEG ratio of 0.29 and a beta of 1.03. Herbalife has a 52-week low of $5.04 and a 52-week high of $12.79.

Herbalife (NYSE:HLF) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, February 19th. The company reported $0.36 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.08 by $0.28. The company had revenue of $1.21 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.19 billion. Herbalife had a net margin of 5.09% and a negative return on equity of 20.78%. Equities research analysts predict that Herbalife will post 1.57 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at Herbalife

In related news, Director Juan Miguel Mendoza purchased 5,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 27th. The stock was acquired at an average price of $8.25 per share, with a total value of $41,250.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the director now directly owns 132,500 shares in the company, valued at $1,093,125. This trade represents a 3.92 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. 1.73% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in Herbalife by 7.5% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 11,271,417 shares of the company’s stock worth $75,406,000 after acquiring an additional 785,574 shares in the last quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC raised its stake in Herbalife by 9.9% during the fourth quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 7,088,868 shares of the company’s stock worth $47,425,000 after acquiring an additional 638,567 shares in the last quarter. Long Focus Capital Management LLC raised its stake in Herbalife by 27.3% during the fourth quarter. Long Focus Capital Management LLC now owns 4,758,127 shares of the company’s stock worth $31,832,000 after acquiring an additional 1,020,127 shares in the last quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership raised its stake in Herbalife by 777.0% during the fourth quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 2,987,490 shares of the company’s stock worth $19,986,000 after acquiring an additional 2,646,848 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its stake in Herbalife by 8.7% during the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 2,696,560 shares of the company’s stock worth $18,040,000 after acquiring an additional 216,603 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.