Wall Street Zen Downgrades Herbalife (NYSE:HLF) to Buy

Herbalife (NYSE:HLF) was downgraded by stock analysts at Wall Street Zen from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report issued on Sunday.

Separately, Mizuho increased their price objective on shares of Herbalife from $8.00 to $9.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, July 28th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has given a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $11.50.

Herbalife Stock Performance

Shares of Herbalife stock opened at $8.53 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $878.98 million, a P/E ratio of 2.69, a P/E/G ratio of 0.27 and a beta of 0.89. The company has a fifty day moving average of $9.40 and a 200 day moving average of $8.41. Herbalife has a fifty-two week low of $5.04 and a fifty-two week high of $10.83.

Herbalife (NYSE:HLF) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, August 6th. The company reported $0.59 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.53 by $0.06. Herbalife had a net margin of 6.59% and a negative return on equity of 27.36%. The business had revenue of $1.26 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.27 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.54 EPS. The business’s revenue was down 1.7% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts forecast that Herbalife will post 1.57 EPS for the current year.

Institutional Trading of Herbalife

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in Herbalife by 10.9% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 12,495,374 shares of the company’s stock valued at $107,835,000 after buying an additional 1,223,957 shares during the last quarter. Long Focus Capital Management LLC boosted its position in Herbalife by 3.9% in the first quarter. Long Focus Capital Management LLC now owns 4,943,000 shares of the company’s stock valued at $42,658,000 after buying an additional 184,873 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its position in Herbalife by 13.4% in the first quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 3,057,219 shares of the company’s stock valued at $26,384,000 after buying an additional 360,659 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its position in Herbalife by 1.1% in the second quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 2,810,794 shares of the company’s stock valued at $24,231,000 after buying an additional 31,077 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Iridian Asset Management LLC CT boosted its position in Herbalife by 10.7% in the first quarter. Iridian Asset Management LLC CT now owns 2,775,430 shares of the company’s stock valued at $23,952,000 after buying an additional 267,690 shares during the last quarter.

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.