Stock Traders Purchase High Volume of Call Options on Herbalife (NYSE:HLF)

Herbalife Ltd. (NYSE:HLF) was the recipient of unusually large options trading on Thursday. Stock traders purchased 17,980 call options on the company. This is an increase of 480% compared to the average volume of 3,098 call options.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Herbalife

A number of institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of HLF. Quadrant Capital Group LLC boosted its position in Herbalife by 641.5% during the 4th quarter. Quadrant Capital Group LLC now owns 4,293 shares of the company’s stock worth $29,000 after acquiring an additional 3,714 shares during the period. R Squared Ltd acquired a new stake in Herbalife during the 4th quarter worth about $63,000. Van ECK Associates Corp boosted its position in Herbalife by 110.4% during the 4th quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 10,526 shares of the company’s stock worth $70,000 after acquiring an additional 5,524 shares during the period. Bridgefront Capital LLC acquired a new stake in Herbalife during the 4th quarter worth about $71,000. Finally, Headlands Technologies LLC boosted its position in Herbalife by 12,307.6% during the 4th quarter. Headlands Technologies LLC now owns 11,415 shares of the company’s stock worth $76,000 after acquiring an additional 11,323 shares during the period.

Herbalife Trading Up 43.4 %

Shares of HLF opened at $8.06 on Friday. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $6.27 and its 200 day moving average price is $7.24. The stock has a market capitalization of $812.37 million, a P/E ratio of 9.48, a P/E/G ratio of 0.21 and a beta of 1.15. Herbalife has a 1-year low of $5.04 and a 1-year high of $12.79.

Herbalife (NYSE:HLF) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 19th. The company reported $0.36 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.08 by $0.28. Herbalife had a negative return on equity of 18.66% and a net margin of 1.73%. The firm had revenue of $1.21 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.19 billion.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts recently issued reports on the company. StockNews.com raised Herbalife from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, November 4th. B. Riley lowered their target price on Herbalife from $17.00 to $12.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, October 31st. DA Davidson reissued a “neutral” rating and issued a $7.50 price target on shares of Herbalife in a research note on Thursday. Citigroup dropped their price target on Herbalife from $16.00 to $13.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, October 25th. Finally, Mizuho lifted their price target on Herbalife from $8.00 to $9.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, November 1st. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $9.90.

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.