Van ECK Associates Corp Has $70,000 Stake in Herbalife Ltd. (NYSE:HLF)

Van ECK Associates Corp increased its stake in shares of Herbalife Ltd. (NYSE:HLF) by 110.4% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 10,526 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 5,524 shares during the period. Van ECK Associates Corp’s holdings in Herbalife were worth $70,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the stock. R Squared Ltd bought a new position in Herbalife in the fourth quarter valued at $63,000. Range Financial Group LLC bought a new position in Herbalife in the fourth quarter valued at $124,000. SG Americas Securities LLC grew its position in Herbalife by 83.5% in the fourth quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 18,884 shares of the company’s stock valued at $126,000 after purchasing an additional 8,591 shares in the last quarter. Prospera Financial Services Inc bought a new position in Herbalife in the third quarter valued at $154,000. Finally, DGS Capital Management LLC grew its position in Herbalife by 63.7% in the third quarter. DGS Capital Management LLC now owns 24,454 shares of the company’s stock valued at $176,000 after purchasing an additional 9,513 shares in the last quarter.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have recently issued reports on HLF. DA Davidson restated a “neutral” rating and set a $7.50 target price on shares of Herbalife in a research note on Thursday. Mizuho raised their target price on shares of Herbalife from $8.00 to $9.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, November 1st. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Herbalife from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, November 4th. Finally, B. Riley cut their target price on shares of Herbalife from $17.00 to $12.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $9.90.

Herbalife Trading Up 3.1 %

Herbalife stock opened at $8.27 on Monday. Herbalife Ltd. has a 1-year low of $5.04 and a 1-year high of $12.79. The firm has a market capitalization of $836.72 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 3.32, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.29 and a beta of 1.15. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $6.29 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $7.20.

Herbalife (NYSE:HLF) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 19th. The company reported $0.36 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.08 by $0.28. Herbalife had a net margin of 5.09% and a negative return on equity of 20.78%. The company had revenue of $1.21 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.19 billion. On average, research analysts forecast that Herbalife Ltd. will post 1.57 EPS for the current year.

Herbalife 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.