Herbalife (NYSE:HLF) Shares Gap Up After Better-Than-Expected Earnings

Herbalife Ltd. (NYSE:HLF) gapped up prior to trading on Thursday following a better than expected earnings announcement. The stock had previously closed at $5.62, but opened at $7.23. Herbalife shares last traded at $7.45, with a volume of 6,189,169 shares traded.

The company reported $0.36 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.08 by $0.28. The business had revenue of $1.21 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.19 billion. Herbalife had a negative return on equity of 18.66% and a net margin of 1.73%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have recently commented on HLF shares. DA Davidson reissued a “neutral” rating and set a $7.50 price target on shares of Herbalife in a research note on Thursday. Citigroup dropped their price objective on Herbalife from $16.00 to $13.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Friday, October 25th. StockNews.com upgraded Herbalife from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, November 4th. Mizuho upped 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, B. Riley reduced their price target 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. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $9.90.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. grew 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 buying an additional 785,574 shares during the last quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC grew its position in Herbalife by 9.9% in the fourth quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 7,088,868 shares of the company’s stock valued at $47,425,000 after purchasing an additional 638,567 shares in the last quarter. Long Focus Capital Management LLC grew its position in Herbalife by 27.3% in the fourth quarter. Long Focus Capital Management LLC now owns 4,758,127 shares of the company’s stock valued at $31,832,000 after purchasing an additional 1,020,127 shares in the last quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership grew its position in shares of Herbalife by 777.0% in the 4th quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 2,987,490 shares of the company’s stock valued at $19,986,000 after acquiring an additional 2,646,848 shares during the period. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its position in shares of Herbalife by 8.7% in the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 2,696,560 shares of the company’s stock valued at $18,040,000 after acquiring an additional 216,603 shares during the period.

Herbalife Trading Up 43.4 %

The business’s 50 day moving average price is $6.27 and its 200-day moving average price is $7.24. The company has a market cap of $812.37 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.48, a PEG ratio of 0.21 and a beta of 1.15.

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.