Herbalife (NYSE:HLF) Shares Gap Up After Better-Than-Expected Earnings

Herbalife Ltd. (NYSE:HLF) gapped up prior to trading on Thursday after the company announced better than expected quarterly earnings. The stock had previously closed at $5.62, but opened at $7.23. Herbalife shares last traded at $7.45, with a volume of 6,189,169 shares traded.

The company reported $0.36 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.08 by $0.28. The business had revenue of $1.21 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.19 billion. Herbalife had a negative return on equity of 18.66% and a net margin of 1.73%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages have weighed in on HLF. Mizuho boosted their price objective on Herbalife from $8.00 to $9.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, November 1st. B. Riley cut their target price on Herbalife from $17.00 to $12.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. DA Davidson lowered their price target on Herbalife from $13.00 to $7.50 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. Citigroup cut their price objective on shares of Herbalife from $16.00 to $13.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, October 25th. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded shares of Herbalife from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, November 4th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $9.90.

Institutional Trading of Herbalife

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in HLF. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in Herbalife by 7.5% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 11,271,417 shares of the company’s stock valued at $75,406,000 after buying an additional 785,574 shares in the last quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC raised its stake in shares of Herbalife by 9.9% during the fourth 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 in the last quarter. Long Focus Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Herbalife by 27.3% in the fourth quarter. Long Focus Capital Management LLC now owns 4,758,127 shares of the company’s stock valued at $31,832,000 after purchasing an additional 1,020,127 shares during the period. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership grew its stake in Herbalife by 777.0% in the fourth quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 2,987,490 shares of the company’s stock worth $19,986,000 after purchasing an additional 2,646,848 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its position 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 valued at $18,040,000 after purchasing an additional 216,603 shares in the last quarter.

Herbalife Trading Up 32.2 %

The firm has a market cap of $749.07 million, a PE ratio of 8.70, a P/E/G ratio of 0.21 and a beta of 1.15. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $6.26 and its 200 day simple moving average is $7.23.

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.