Herbalife Ltd. (NYSE:HLF) Given Consensus Recommendation of “Hold” by Brokerages

Shares of Herbalife Ltd. (NYSE:HLF) have been given a consensus rating of “Hold” by the five ratings firms that are presently covering the stock, Marketbeat.com reports. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, two have given a hold recommendation and two have assigned a buy recommendation to the company. The average 1-year target price among brokerages that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $9.90.

HLF has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. B. Riley cut their price objective on shares of Herbalife from $17.00 to $12.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. Citigroup dropped their target price on Herbalife from $16.00 to $13.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, October 25th. StockNews.com raised Herbalife from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, November 4th. Mizuho increased their price objective on shares of Herbalife from $8.00 to $9.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Finally, DA Davidson dropped their target price on shares of Herbalife from $13.00 to $7.50 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, October 31st.

Herbalife Stock Performance

HLF opened at $8.15 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $821.44 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.59, a PEG ratio of 0.27 and a beta of 1.17. The company has a fifty day moving average of $7.56 and a 200 day moving average of $9.04. Herbalife has a fifty-two week low of $6.59 and a fifty-two week high of $15.66.

Herbalife (NYSE:HLF) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The company reported $0.57 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.19 by $0.38. The firm had revenue of $1.24 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.23 billion. Herbalife had a net margin of 1.73% and a negative return on equity of 18.66%. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Herbalife will post 1.51 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity at Herbalife

In related news, Director Juan Miguel Mendoza acquired 10,000 shares of Herbalife stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, September 9th. The shares were purchased at an average price of $7.11 per share, for a total transaction of $71,100.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 120,000 shares in the company, valued at $853,200. This represents a 9.09 % increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. In the last three months, insiders have purchased 15,000 shares of company stock valued at $112,275. 0.94% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Herbalife

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Renaissance Technologies LLC raised its holdings in shares of Herbalife by 11.6% in the 2nd quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 6,653,401 shares of the company’s stock valued at $69,129,000 after buying an additional 692,800 shares during the period. Baupost Group LLC MA increased its stake in Herbalife by 128.3% during the second quarter. Baupost Group LLC MA now owns 5,124,526 shares of the company’s stock worth $53,244,000 after purchasing an additional 2,879,603 shares during the period. Bank of Montreal Can lifted its position in shares of Herbalife by 15.3% during the second quarter. Bank of Montreal Can now owns 3,776,641 shares of the company’s stock worth $41,354,000 after purchasing an additional 500,876 shares in the last quarter. Long Focus Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Herbalife by 11.3% in the second quarter. Long Focus Capital Management LLC now owns 3,202,982 shares of the company’s stock valued at $33,279,000 after purchasing an additional 323,969 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Herbalife by 4.2% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 2,615,514 shares of the company’s stock valued at $18,809,000 after purchasing an additional 105,431 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.