Herbalife Ltd. (NYSE:HLF) Short Interest Update

Herbalife Ltd. (NYSE:HLF) saw a large decline in short interest in March. As of March 15th, there was short interest totalling 13,080,000 shares, a decline of 5.1% from the February 29th total of 13,790,000 shares. Approximately 13.7% of the company’s shares are sold short. Based on an average trading volume of 1,910,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 6.8 days.

Insider Buying and Selling at Herbalife

In other Herbalife news, Director Juan Miguel Mendoza acquired 16,079 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 26th. The stock was acquired at an average price of $9.40 per share, with a total value of $151,142.60. Following the completion of the purchase, the director now owns 54,622 shares in the company, valued at approximately $513,446.80. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. In other news, CEO Michael Johnson acquired 61,725 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, February 16th. The shares were bought at an average cost of $8.07 per share, with a total value of $498,120.75. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 603,707 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,871,915.49. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director Juan Miguel Mendoza acquired 16,079 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 26th. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $9.40 per share, with a total value of $151,142.60. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 54,622 shares in the company, valued at approximately $513,446.80. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Insiders bought a total of 85,757 shares of company stock valued at $723,278 in the last three months. 0.94% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. UBS Group AG grew its holdings in Herbalife by 5.6% in the third quarter. UBS Group AG now owns 3,989,128 shares of the company’s stock valued at $55,808,000 after purchasing an additional 209,949 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Herbalife by 9.2% during the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,742,507 shares of the company’s stock worth $24,378,000 after buying an additional 147,003 shares during the last quarter. Campbell & CO Investment Adviser LLC purchased a new position in shares of Herbalife in the 3rd quarter worth $381,000. Federated Hermes Inc. boosted its holdings in Herbalife by 6,949,960.0% in the third quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. now owns 347,503 shares of the company’s stock valued at $4,862,000 after acquiring an additional 347,498 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Bronte Capital Management Pty Ltd. grew its position in Herbalife by 3.5% during the third quarter. Bronte Capital Management Pty Ltd. now owns 3,121,467 shares of the company’s stock valued at $43,669,000 after acquiring an additional 104,567 shares during the period.

Herbalife Price Performance

Shares of HLF opened at $9.11 on Tuesday. Herbalife has a 1-year low of $6.68 and a 1-year high of $19.48. The stock has a market cap of $909.09 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 6.42 and a beta of 1.22. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $9.96 and a 200-day simple moving average of $12.44.

Herbalife (NYSE:HLF) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 14th. The company reported $0.28 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.38 by ($0.10). Herbalife had a negative return on equity of 19.56% and a net margin of 2.81%. The company had revenue of $1.20 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.19 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $0.53 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up .0% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts expect that Herbalife will post 1.8 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages have issued reports on HLF. DA Davidson dropped their price objective on Herbalife from $11.00 to $9.50 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, March 25th. Bank of America cut their target price on shares of Herbalife from $10.00 to $8.00 and set an “underperform” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, March 21st. StockNews.com raised shares of Herbalife from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, February 16th. Finally, Mizuho reduced 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. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating and one has issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $10.50.

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.