First Trust Advisors LP Boosts Stock Holdings in Herbalife Ltd. (NYSE:HLF)

First Trust Advisors LP boosted its stake in shares of Herbalife Ltd. (NYSE:HLF – Get Rating) by 82.2% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 475,489 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 214,500 shares during the period. First Trust Advisors LP owned approximately 0.49% of Herbalife worth $7,075,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of Herbalife by 8.7% in the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 13,065,944 shares of the company’s stock valued at $259,881,000 after acquiring an additional 1,050,992 shares during the period. BlackRock Inc. raised its stake in shares of Herbalife by 26.6% in the 3rd quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 8,604,102 shares of the company’s stock valued at $171,134,000 after acquiring an additional 1,807,216 shares during the period. Boston Partners purchased a new position in shares of Herbalife in the 4th quarter valued at $25,984,000. Iridian Asset Management LLC CT raised its stake in shares of Herbalife by 4.5% in the 4th quarter. Iridian Asset Management LLC CT now owns 1,160,893 shares of the company’s stock valued at $17,274,000 after acquiring an additional 50,315 shares during the period. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its stake in shares of Herbalife by 0.3% in the 4th quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,117,509 shares of the company’s stock valued at $16,629,000 after acquiring an additional 3,032 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 98.91% of the company’s stock.

Herbalife Price Performance

Shares of HLF stock opened at $11.47 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $1.13 billion, a P/E ratio of 4.50 and a beta of 1.13. Herbalife Ltd. has a 1-year low of $11.14 and a 1-year high of $30.65. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $14.91 and a two-hundred day moving average of $16.17.

Herbalife (NYSE:HLF – Get Rating) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, May 2nd. The company reported $0.54 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.65 by ($0.11). The company had revenue of $1.25 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.22 billion. Herbalife had a negative return on equity of 22.11% and a net margin of 4.93%. Herbalife’s revenue was down 6.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $0.99 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Herbalife Ltd. will post 2.26 EPS for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, Director Stephan Paulo Gratziani acquired 23,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, May 8th. The stock was bought at an average cost of $14.06 per share, with a total value of $330,410.00. Following the acquisition, the director now directly owns 34,529 shares in the company, valued at $485,477.74. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. 0.66% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts recently weighed in on HLF shares. StockNews.com lowered shares of Herbalife from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, May 13th. Citigroup raised their price target on shares of Herbalife from $26.00 to $28.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, March 1st. Finally, Bank of America started coverage on shares of Herbalife in a report on Friday, February 3rd. They set an “underperform” rating and a $14.00 price target for the company. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $22.60.

About Herbalife

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Herbalife Ltd. engages in the provision of health and wellness products. It operates through the following geographical segments: North America, Latin America, EMEA, Asia Pacific, and China. The company was founded by Mark Reynolds Hughes in February 1980 and is headquartered in Los Angeles, CA.