Marshall Wace LLP Grows Stake in Helen of Troy Limited (NASDAQ:HELE)

Marshall Wace LLP increased its holdings in Helen of Troy Limited (NASDAQ:HELE) by 1,178.7% during the second quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 51,302 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 47,290 shares during the quarter. Marshall Wace LLP’s holdings in Helen of Troy were worth $4,758,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. William Blair Investment Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Helen of Troy in the second quarter worth $29,749,000. Capital Research Global Investors lifted its stake in Helen of Troy by 6.9% in the 4th quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 1,761,029 shares of the company’s stock worth $212,750,000 after purchasing an additional 114,215 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its holdings in shares of Helen of Troy by 9.8% during the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,153,414 shares of the company’s stock valued at $106,970,000 after purchasing an additional 102,767 shares during the last quarter. Public Employees Retirement Association of Colorado boosted its holdings in shares of Helen of Troy by 1,351.6% during the 4th quarter. Public Employees Retirement Association of Colorado now owns 89,940 shares of the company’s stock valued at $10,866,000 after purchasing an additional 83,744 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Capital Fund Management S.A. purchased a new position in shares of Helen of Troy during the fourth quarter valued at about $8,583,000.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms recently commented on HELE. UBS Group decreased their target price on Helen of Troy from $100.00 to $72.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, July 10th. Canaccord Genuity Group lowered their target price on Helen of Troy from $137.00 to $84.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, July 10th. StockNews.com lowered shares of Helen of Troy from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 10th. Finally, DA Davidson downgraded shares of Helen of Troy from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and decreased their price target for the company from $139.00 to $67.00 in a research note on Wednesday, July 10th.

Helen of Troy Trading Down 0.7 %

Shares of HELE stock opened at $61.44 on Wednesday. The company has a market cap of $1.40 billion, a PE ratio of 9.63, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.18 and a beta of 0.85. Helen of Troy Limited has a 1 year low of $48.05 and a 1 year high of $127.83. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $55.61 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $82.56. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.40, a current ratio of 1.87 and a quick ratio of 0.99.

Helen of Troy (NASDAQ:HELE) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 9th. The company reported $0.99 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.59 by ($0.60). The company had revenue of $416.80 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $445.85 million. Helen of Troy had a net margin of 7.82% and a return on equity of 10.25%. The business’s quarterly revenue was down 12.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $1.58 EPS. Research analysts predict that Helen of Troy Limited will post 6.33 earnings per share for the current year.

Helen of Troy declared that its board has approved a share repurchase program on Thursday, September 5th that permits the company to buyback $500.00 million in shares. This buyback authorization permits the company to purchase up to 39.8% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are often an indication that the company’s management believes its shares are undervalued.

Helen of Troy Profile

Helen of Troy Limited provides various consumer products in the United States, Canada, Europe, the Middle East, Africa, the Asia Pacific, and Latin America. The company operates in two segments: Home & Outdoor and Beauty & Wellness. The Home & Outdoor segment offers food storage containers, kitchen utensils for cooking and preparing salads, fruits, vegetables and meats, graters, slicers and choppers, baking essentials, kitchen organization, bath, cleaning, infant and toddler products, and coffee preparation tools and electronics; and insulated beverageware, including bottles, travel tumblers, drinkware, mugs, food and lunch containers, insulated totes, soft coolers, outdoor kitchenware, and accessories.