Herbalife Ltd. (NYSE:HLF) Director Acquires $289,500.00 in Stock

Herbalife Ltd. (NYSE:HLF) Director Donal L. Mulligan purchased 30,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 3rd. The stock was acquired at an average price of $9.65 per share, for a total transaction of $289,500.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 60,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $579,000. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website.

Herbalife Stock Up 3.5 %

HLF stock opened at $10.06 on Wednesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.01 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 7.34 and a beta of 1.24. Herbalife Ltd. has a 52-week low of $6.68 and a 52-week high of $19.48. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $8.87 and its 200-day simple moving average is $11.46.

Herbalife (NYSE:HLF) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, May 1st. The company reported $0.49 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.37 by $0.12. The firm had revenue of $1.30 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.26 billion. Herbalife had a negative return on equity of 19.97% and a net margin of 2.70%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 3.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.54 earnings per share. As a group, analysts anticipate that Herbalife Ltd. will post 1.69 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Herbalife

Several hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of HLF. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in Herbalife by 0.4% during the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 10,561,779 shares of the company’s stock worth $147,759,000 after purchasing an additional 43,452 shares during the last quarter. UBS Group AG grew its stake in shares of Herbalife by 5.6% during the 3rd quarter. UBS Group AG now owns 3,989,128 shares of the company’s stock valued at $55,808,000 after buying an additional 209,949 shares during the period. Bronte Capital Management Pty Ltd. increased its holdings in shares of Herbalife by 3.5% during the 3rd quarter. Bronte Capital Management Pty Ltd. now owns 3,121,467 shares of the company’s stock worth $43,669,000 after buying an additional 104,567 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its position in shares of Herbalife by 8.4% in the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,888,191 shares of the company’s stock worth $28,814,000 after buying an additional 145,684 shares during the period. Finally, Hotchkis & Wiley Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in Herbalife by 7.7% in the fourth quarter. Hotchkis & Wiley Capital Management LLC now owns 1,624,370 shares of the company’s stock valued at $24,788,000 after acquiring an additional 116,030 shares during the last quarter.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts recently issued reports on the company. StockNews.com raised Herbalife from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, February 16th. Mizuho reduced their price objective on Herbalife from $12.00 to $10.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, March 21st. Bank of America dropped their price objective on 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 restated a “neutral” rating and issued a $9.50 target price on shares of Herbalife in a report on Thursday, May 2nd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating and one has issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $10.50.

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.