Herbalife Sees Unusually Large Options Volume (NYSE:HLF)

Herbalife Ltd. (NYSE:HLF) was the recipient of some unusual options trading activity on Monday. Traders purchased 17,791 put options on the company. This is an increase of approximately 402% compared to the average daily volume of 3,542 put options.

Insider Transactions at Herbalife

In other news, Director Juan Miguel Mendoza purchased 10,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 26th. The stock was bought at an average price of $8.72 per share, with a total value of $87,200.00. Following the acquisition, the director now owns 110,000 shares in the company, valued at approximately $959,200. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. 0.94% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Herbalife

Several hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of HLF. Baupost Group LLC MA grew its stake in Herbalife by 128.3% in the 2nd quarter. Baupost Group LLC MA now owns 5,124,526 shares of the company’s stock worth $53,244,000 after buying an additional 2,879,603 shares in the last quarter. Marshall Wace LLP grew its stake in Herbalife by 2,053.6% in the 2nd quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 1,977,155 shares of the company’s stock worth $20,543,000 after buying an additional 1,885,346 shares in the last quarter. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Herbalife by 3,832.5% in the 1st quarter. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. now owns 1,157,309 shares of the company’s stock worth $11,631,000 after acquiring an additional 1,127,880 shares during the last quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Herbalife by 164.8% in the 4th quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 1,288,198 shares of the company’s stock worth $19,658,000 after acquiring an additional 801,644 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Renaissance Technologies LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Herbalife by 11.6% in the 2nd quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 6,653,401 shares of the company’s stock worth $69,129,000 after acquiring an additional 692,800 shares during the last quarter.

Herbalife Stock Performance

HLF stock traded down $0.33 during mid-day trading on Monday, hitting $7.20. The company had a trading volume of 1,061,106 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,136,956. The firm has a market cap of $725.18 million, a PE ratio of 5.37 and a beta of 1.21. Herbalife has a 12 month low of $6.68 and a 12 month high of $15.71. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $9.86 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $9.77.

Herbalife (NYSE:HLF) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 31st. The company reported $0.54 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.43 by $0.11. Herbalife had a net margin of 1.63% and a negative return on equity of 18.69%. The company had revenue of $1.28 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.33 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.74 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 2.5% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts anticipate that Herbalife will post 0.9 earnings per share for the current year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

HLF has been the subject of several analyst reports. DA Davidson raised their price target on shares of Herbalife from $9.50 to $13.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 1st. Mizuho increased their price objective on shares of Herbalife from $10.00 to $11.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, June 7th. StockNews.com cut shares of Herbalife from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday. Finally, B. Riley increased their price objective on shares of Herbalife from $16.00 to $17.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 1st. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating and one has assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $12.33.

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.