Citigroup Inc. Cuts Stock Holdings in Herbalife Ltd. (NYSE:HLF)

Citigroup Inc. decreased its holdings in shares of Herbalife Ltd. (NYSE:HLF) by 67.3% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 17,480 shares of the company’s stock after selling 35,899 shares during the quarter. Citigroup Inc.’s holdings in Herbalife were worth $245,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in Herbalife by 8.7% in the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 13,065,944 shares of the company’s stock worth $259,881,000 after buying an additional 1,050,992 shares in the last quarter. BlackRock Inc. boosted its stake in Herbalife by 26.6% in the third quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 8,604,102 shares of the company’s stock worth $171,134,000 after buying an additional 1,807,216 shares in the last quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC boosted its stake in Herbalife by 7.0% in the first quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 6,968,748 shares of the company’s stock worth $112,197,000 after buying an additional 456,384 shares in the last quarter. UBS Group AG boosted its stake in Herbalife by 5.6% in the third quarter. UBS Group AG now owns 3,989,128 shares of the company’s stock worth $55,808,000 after buying an additional 209,949 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Bronte Capital Management Pty Ltd. boosted its stake in Herbalife by 3.5% in the third quarter. Bronte Capital Management Pty Ltd. now owns 3,121,467 shares of the company’s stock worth $43,669,000 after buying an additional 104,567 shares in the last quarter.

Herbalife Stock Up 2.0 %

NYSE HLF opened at $9.48 on Thursday. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $10.12 and its 200-day moving average price is $12.56. Herbalife Ltd. has a 52 week low of $6.68 and a 52 week high of $19.48. The company has a market capitalization of $945.51 million, a P/E ratio of 6.67 and a beta of 1.21.

Herbalife (NYSE:HLF) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, February 14th. The company reported $0.28 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.38 by ($0.10). The business had revenue of $1.20 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.19 billion. Herbalife had a net margin of 2.81% and a negative return on equity of 19.56%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up .0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business posted $0.53 EPS. Research analysts anticipate that Herbalife Ltd. will post 1.8 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity at Herbalife

In other Herbalife news, CEO Michael Johnson bought 61,725 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 16th. The shares were bought at an average price of $8.07 per share, with a total value of $498,120.75. Following the purchase, the chief executive officer now owns 603,707 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,871,915.49. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. In other Herbalife news, CEO Michael Johnson bought 61,725 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 16th. The shares were bought at an average price of $8.07 per share, with a total value of $498,120.75. Following the purchase, the chief executive officer now owns 603,707 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,871,915.49. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director Rodica Macadrai bought 5,175 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 11th. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $9.31 per share, for a total transaction of $48,179.25. Following the purchase, the director now directly owns 12,716 shares in the company, valued at approximately $118,385.96. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have acquired 85,757 shares of company stock valued at $723,278. 0.94% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have recently weighed in on HLF shares. StockNews.com raised Herbalife from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, February 16th. Mizuho dropped their price objective on Herbalife from $12.00 to $10.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, March 21st. Bank of America dropped their price objective on Herbalife from $10.00 to $8.00 and set an “underperform” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, March 21st. Finally, DA Davidson dropped their price objective on Herbalife from $11.00 to $9.50 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Monday. 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 stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $10.50.

Herbalife 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.