Stock Traders Buy High Volume of Perrigo Call Options (NYSE:PRGO)

Perrigo Company plc (NYSE:PRGO) was the target of unusually large options trading on Tuesday. Traders acquired 11,385 call options on the company. This is an increase of 850% compared to the typical daily volume of 1,198 call options.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

PRGO has been the topic of several analyst reports. Piper Sandler cut Perrigo from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and cut their target price for the company from $34.00 to $27.00 in a research report on Monday, January 6th. Jefferies Financial Group reiterated a “hold” rating and issued a $30.00 target price (down previously from $50.00) on shares of Perrigo in a report on Monday, September 23rd. StockNews.com cut shares of Perrigo from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday. Canaccord Genuity Group reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $42.00 price objective on shares of Perrigo in a research note on Monday, September 30th. Finally, Argus downgraded Perrigo from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $35.00.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Jeffrey B. Kindler sold 17,598 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $28.27, for a total value of $497,495.46. Following the transaction, the director now owns 5,409 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $152,912.43. This trade represents a 76.49 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. 0.70% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Perrigo

Large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its holdings in Perrigo by 3.6% during the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 7,162,656 shares of the company’s stock worth $183,935,000 after purchasing an additional 249,640 shares in the last quarter. Deprince Race & Zollo Inc. boosted its stake in Perrigo by 11.2% during the second quarter. Deprince Race & Zollo Inc. now owns 3,882,438 shares of the company’s stock valued at $99,701,000 after buying an additional 391,646 shares during the period. Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its position in shares of Perrigo by 229.2% during the 3rd quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 2,697,698 shares of the company’s stock valued at $70,761,000 after acquiring an additional 1,878,145 shares during the last quarter. Copeland Capital Management LLC increased its position in shares of Perrigo by 23.1% in the third quarter. Copeland Capital Management LLC now owns 2,482,544 shares of the company’s stock worth $65,117,000 after purchasing an additional 465,161 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Sound Shore Management Inc. CT raised its stake in Perrigo by 5.2% in the second quarter. Sound Shore Management Inc. CT now owns 2,391,049 shares of the company’s stock valued at $61,402,000 after purchasing an additional 117,230 shares in the last quarter. 95.91% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Perrigo Stock Performance

PRGO stock traded down $0.77 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, hitting $23.57. The company had a trading volume of 1,794,229 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,546,861. Perrigo has a 12 month low of $23.14 and a 12 month high of $33.96. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $26.71 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $26.80. The firm has a market cap of $3.22 billion, a PE ratio of -20.15 and a beta of 0.53. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.94, a quick ratio of 1.77 and a current ratio of 2.56.

Perrigo (NYSE:PRGO) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, November 6th. The company reported $0.81 earnings per share for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $0.81. The company had revenue of $1.09 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.12 billion. Perrigo had a positive return on equity of 7.38% and a negative net margin of 3.64%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 3.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.64 EPS. On average, analysts forecast that Perrigo will post 2.56 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Perrigo Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, December 17th. Shareholders of record on Friday, November 29th were issued a dividend of $0.276 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, November 29th. This represents a $1.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.68%. Perrigo’s payout ratio is -94.02%.

About Perrigo

Perrigo Company plc provides over-the-counter health and wellness solutions to enhance individual well-being in the United States, Europe, and internationally. It operates through Consumer Self-Care Americas and Consumer Self-Care International segments. The company develops, manufactures, markets, and distributes self-care consumer products, such as upper respiratory products, including cough suppressants, expectorants, and sinus and allergy relief; nutrition products consisting of infant formulas and nutritional beverages; digestive health products, including antacids, anti-diarrheal, and anti-heartburn; pain and sleep-aids products comprising pain relievers and fever reducers; and oral care products, which include toothbrushes, toothbrush replacement heads, floss, flossers, whitening products, and toothbrush covers.