DA Davidson Upgrades Herbalife (NYSE:HLF) to “Buy”

Herbalife (NYSE:HLF) was upgraded by equities research analysts at DA Davidson from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report issued to clients and investors on Friday, Marketbeat.com reports. The brokerage presently has a $14.00 price objective on the stock, up from their prior price objective of $7.50. DA Davidson’s target price indicates a potential upside of 66.35% from the stock’s previous close.

Herbalife Trading Up 5.3 %

HLF opened at $8.42 on Friday. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $6.97 and its 200 day moving average price is $7.21. Herbalife has a 12-month low of $5.04 and a 12-month high of $12.79. The firm has a market cap of $852.89 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 3.38, a PEG ratio of 0.29 and a beta of 1.03.

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

Insider Activity

In other Herbalife news, Director Juan Miguel Mendoza acquired 5,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 27th. The shares were acquired at an average price of $8.25 per share, for a total transaction of $41,250.00. Following the acquisition, the director now owns 132,500 shares in the company, valued at $1,093,125. The trade was a 3.92 % increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Company insiders own 1.73% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Herbalife by 7.5% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 11,271,417 shares of the company’s stock valued at $75,406,000 after acquiring an additional 785,574 shares during the last quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC increased its holdings in shares of Herbalife by 9.9% in the 4th quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 7,088,868 shares of the company’s stock valued at $47,425,000 after acquiring an additional 638,567 shares during the last quarter. Long Focus Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Herbalife by 27.3% in the 4th quarter. Long Focus Capital Management LLC now owns 4,758,127 shares of the company’s stock valued at $31,832,000 after acquiring an additional 1,020,127 shares during the last quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership grew its stake in Herbalife by 777.0% during the 4th quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 2,987,490 shares of the company’s stock worth $19,986,000 after buying an additional 2,646,848 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its stake in Herbalife by 8.7% during the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 2,696,560 shares of the company’s stock worth $18,040,000 after buying an additional 216,603 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.