Herbalife (NYSE:HLF) Upgraded at StockNews.com

StockNews.com upgraded shares of Herbalife (NYSE:HLF) from a buy rating to a strong-buy rating in a research note released on Friday morning.

Separately, DA Davidson upgraded shares of Herbalife from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their price objective for the stock from $7.50 to $14.00 in a report on Friday. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, three have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Herbalife currently has an average rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $12.00.

Herbalife Stock Performance

NYSE:HLF opened at $8.42 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $852.89 million, a P/E ratio of 3.38, a P/E/G ratio of 0.29 and a beta of 1.03. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $6.97 and its 200 day moving average price is $7.21. Herbalife has a 52 week low of $5.04 and a 52 week high of $12.79.

Herbalife (NYSE:HLF) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 19th. The company reported $0.36 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate 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. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Herbalife will post 1.57 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Herbalife

In other news, Director Juan Miguel Mendoza purchased 5,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 27th. The stock was bought at an average cost of $8.25 per share, for a total transaction of $41,250.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director now directly owns 132,500 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,093,125. The trade was a 3.92 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 1.73% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in HLF. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership raised its position in Herbalife by 777.0% in the fourth quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 2,987,490 shares of the company’s stock worth $19,986,000 after purchasing an additional 2,646,848 shares in the last quarter. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. raised its position in Herbalife by 67.0% in the fourth quarter. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. now owns 2,570,226 shares of the company’s stock worth $17,195,000 after purchasing an additional 1,031,078 shares in the last quarter. Long Focus Capital Management LLC raised 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 worth $31,832,000 after purchasing an additional 1,020,127 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in Herbalife by 7.5% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 11,271,417 shares of the company’s stock worth $75,406,000 after purchasing an additional 785,574 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Marshall Wace LLP raised its position in Herbalife by 83.8% in the fourth quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 1,444,343 shares of the company’s stock worth $9,663,000 after purchasing an additional 658,536 shares in 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.