Herbalife Ltd. (NYSE:HLF) Short Interest Down 7.7% in March

Herbalife Ltd. (NYSE:HLF) saw a significant decline in short interest in the month of March. As of March 31st, there was short interest totalling 12,070,000 shares, a decline of 7.7% from the March 15th total of 13,080,000 shares. Approximately 12.7% of the shares of the company are short sold. Based on an average trading volume of 2,280,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 5.3 days.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

HLF has been the subject of several research analyst reports. DA Davidson reduced their target price on Herbalife from $11.00 to $9.50 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, March 25th. StockNews.com upgraded Herbalife from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, February 16th. Mizuho dropped their price target on Herbalife from $12.00 to $10.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, March 21st. Finally, Bank of America decreased their target price on Herbalife from $10.00 to $8.00 and set an “underperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, March 21st. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating and one has given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $10.50.

Insider Buying and Selling at Herbalife

In related news, CEO Michael Johnson purchased 61,725 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, February 16th. The stock was bought at an average cost of $8.07 per share, with a total value of $498,120.75. Following the completion of the acquisition, the chief executive officer now owns 603,707 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,871,915.49. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. In other Herbalife news, CEO Michael Johnson bought 61,725 shares of Herbalife stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 16th. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $8.07 per share, with a total value of $498,120.75. Following the purchase, the chief executive officer now directly owns 603,707 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,871,915.49. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, EVP Henry C. Wang bought 2,778 shares of Herbalife stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 26th. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $9.30 per share, with a total value of $25,835.40. Following the completion of the purchase, the executive vice president now owns 176,194 shares in the company, valued at $1,638,604.20. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders purchased 85,757 shares of company stock valued at $723,278. 0.94% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in HLF. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. grew its stake in shares of Herbalife by 6.5% in the 1st quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 12,308 shares of the company’s stock valued at $374,000 after purchasing an additional 747 shares during the last quarter. Advisor Group Holdings Inc. grew its stake in shares of Herbalife by 50.0% in the 1st quarter. Advisor Group Holdings Inc. now owns 4,243 shares of the company’s stock valued at $128,000 after purchasing an additional 1,415 shares during the last quarter. Citigroup Inc. grew its stake in shares of Herbalife by 8.9% in the 1st quarter. Citigroup Inc. now owns 18,413 shares of the company’s stock valued at $559,000 after purchasing an additional 1,503 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its stake in shares of Herbalife by 1.8% in the 1st quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,011,947 shares of the company’s stock valued at $30,723,000 after purchasing an additional 17,482 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Canada Pension Plan Investment Board purchased a new position in shares of Herbalife in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $379,000.

Herbalife Stock Down 1.2 %

NYSE:HLF traded down $0.10 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, reaching $8.20. 1,487,272 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,245,701. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $9.17 and a 200-day simple moving average of $12.01. The stock has a market capitalization of $818.28 million, a P/E ratio of 5.78 and a beta of 1.22. Herbalife has a 1 year low of $6.68 and a 1 year high of $19.48.

Herbalife (NYSE:HLF) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 14th. The company reported $0.28 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.38 by ($0.10). The firm had revenue of $1.20 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.19 billion. Herbalife had a negative return on equity of 19.56% and a net margin of 2.81%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up .0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $0.53 EPS. As a group, research analysts predict that Herbalife will post 1.8 EPS for the current year.

Herbalife Company Profile

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.