Herbalife Ltd. (NYSE:HLF) Given Average Rating of “Hold” by Brokerages

Herbalife Ltd. (NYSE:HLF) has been given a consensus recommendation of “Hold” by the five research firms that are covering the stock, MarketBeat reports. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating and one has given a buy rating to the company. The average 12 month price target among brokerages that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $16.90.

Several research firms have issued reports on HLF. DA Davidson initiated coverage on shares of Herbalife in a report on Wednesday, September 13th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $13.50 price objective on the stock. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Herbalife from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday. BMO Capital Markets initiated coverage on shares of Herbalife in a research report on Monday, October 16th. They issued a “market perform” rating and a $12.00 target price for the company. Finally, Mizuho increased their target price on shares of Herbalife from $13.00 to $17.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 3rd.

Herbalife Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE HLF opened at $13.91 on Thursday. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $14.35 and its 200 day moving average price is $14.22. Herbalife has a 1 year low of $11.14 and a 1 year high of $21.33. The company has a market capitalization of $1.38 billion, a PE ratio of 6.13 and a beta of 1.18.

Herbalife (NYSE:HLF) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, August 2nd. The company reported $0.74 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.65 by $0.09. The firm had revenue of $1.31 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.26 billion. Herbalife had a net margin of 4.48% and a negative return on equity of 21.62%. On average, equities analysts expect that Herbalife will post 2.3 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, EVP Ibelis Montesino sold 6,604 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, August 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $14.99, for a total value of $98,993.96. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 139,224 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,086,967.76. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. 0.66% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. lifted its position in shares of Herbalife by 6.5% during the 1st quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 12,308 shares of the company’s stock worth $374,000 after buying an additional 747 shares during the last quarter. Advisor Group Holdings Inc. lifted its position in shares of Herbalife by 50.0% during the 1st quarter. Advisor Group Holdings Inc. now owns 4,243 shares of the company’s stock worth $128,000 after buying an additional 1,415 shares during the last quarter. Citigroup Inc. lifted its position in shares of Herbalife by 8.9% during the 1st quarter. Citigroup Inc. now owns 18,413 shares of the company’s stock worth $559,000 after buying an additional 1,503 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its position in shares of Herbalife by 1.8% during the 1st quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,011,947 shares of the company’s stock worth $30,723,000 after buying an additional 17,482 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Canada Pension Plan Investment Board purchased a new stake in shares of Herbalife during the 1st quarter worth approximately $379,000.

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. The company provides products in the areas of weight management; targeted nutrition; energy, sports, and fitness; outer nutrition; and literature and promotion items.