Herbalife Ltd. (NYSE:HLF) Receives Consensus Rating of “Reduce” from Brokerages

Shares of Herbalife Ltd. (NYSE:HLF) have been given a consensus recommendation of “Reduce” by the five research firms that are covering the company, MarketBeat reports. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation and four have issued a hold recommendation on the company. The average 12 month price target among analysts that have covered the stock in the last year is $10.50.

A number of equities analysts have weighed in on HLF shares. Mizuho cut their target price on shares of Herbalife from $12.00 to $10.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, March 21st. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Herbalife from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, February 16th. Bank of America cut their target price on shares of Herbalife from $10.00 to $8.00 and set an “underperform” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, March 21st. Finally, DA Davidson cut their price objective on shares of Herbalife from $11.00 to $9.50 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, March 25th.

Insider Buying and Selling at Herbalife

In related news, CEO Michael Johnson bought 61,725 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, February 16th. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $8.07 per share, for a total transaction of $498,120.75. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 603,707 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,871,915.49. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. In other Herbalife news, Director Rodica Macadrai purchased 5,175 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, March 11th. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $9.31 per share, with a total value of $48,179.25. Following the completion of the purchase, the director now owns 12,716 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $118,385.96. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CEO Michael Johnson purchased 61,725 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, February 16th. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $8.07 per share, for a total transaction of $498,120.75. Following the completion of the purchase, the chief executive officer now directly owns 603,707 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,871,915.49. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Insiders purchased a total of 85,757 shares of company stock worth $723,278 over the last three months. 0.94% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several large investors have recently made changes to their positions in HLF. PEAK6 Investments LLC purchased a new position in shares of Herbalife during the third quarter worth approximately $146,000. DGS Capital Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Herbalife in the fourth quarter worth $165,000. SG Americas Securities LLC purchased a new position in shares of Herbalife in the fourth quarter worth $184,000. Corton Capital Inc. increased its stake in shares of Herbalife by 10.2% in the third quarter. Corton Capital Inc. now owns 17,849 shares of the company’s stock worth $250,000 after buying an additional 1,654 shares during the period. Finally, Teacher Retirement System of Texas purchased a new position in shares of Herbalife in the fourth quarter worth $258,000.

Herbalife Stock Performance

NYSE HLF opened at $9.21 on Thursday. Herbalife has a 52-week low of $6.68 and a 52-week high of $19.48. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $8.72 and a 200 day simple moving average of $11.80. The company has a market capitalization of $919.07 million, a PE ratio of 6.49 and a beta of 1.22.

Herbalife (NYSE:HLF) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 14th. The company reported $0.28 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.38 by ($0.10). Herbalife had a negative return on equity of 19.56% and a net margin of 2.81%. The company had revenue of $1.20 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.19 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.53 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up .0% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts forecast that Herbalife will post 1.8 EPS for the current fiscal year.

About Herbalife

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.