Herbalife (NYSE:HLF) Stock Bumped Up to “Buy” by Wall Street Zen

Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Herbalife (NYSE:HLF) from a hold rating to a buy rating in a research report report published on Monday morning,Wall Street Zen reports.

HLF has been the subject of several other reports. Weiss Ratings upgraded Herbalife from a “hold (c)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a report on Wednesday, November 4th. UBS Group set a $21.00 price objective on Herbalife in a report on Thursday, September 17th. Zacks Research lowered Herbalife from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 29th. Texas Capital upgraded Herbalife to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, September 17th. Finally, Citigroup reissued a “buy” rating and set a $17.00 target price (down from $21.00) on shares of Herbalife in a research note on Friday, August 7th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, three have issued a Buy rating and four have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $17.67.

Herbalife Stock Performance

HLF opened at $15.72 on Monday. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $12.99 and its two-hundred day moving average is $13.95. The firm has a market cap of $1.65 billion, a PE ratio of 9.36, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.48 and a beta of 0.74. Herbalife has a twelve month low of $8.65 and a twelve month high of $20.40.

Herbalife (NYSE:HLF) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Monday, November 2nd. The company reported $0.64 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.62 by $0.02. Herbalife had a net margin of 3.41% and a negative return on equity of 52.54%. The company had revenue of $1.35 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.31 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.50 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 3.9% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts forecast that Herbalife will post 2.68 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Herbalife announced that its board has approved a stock repurchase plan on Tuesday, September 8th that authorizes the company to buy back $250 million in shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the company to purchase up to 19.3% of its stock through open market purchases. Share repurchase plans are often an indication that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Herbalife

Large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Pekin Hardy Strauss Inc. boosted its position in Herbalife by 0.7% during the 3rd quarter. Pekin Hardy Strauss Inc. now owns 316,170 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,835,000 after acquiring an additional 2,176 shares during the last quarter. Vise Technologies Inc. bought a new position in shares of Herbalife during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $160,000. State of Wyoming grew its stake in shares of Herbalife by 78.3% during the 3rd quarter. State of Wyoming now owns 66,845 shares of the company’s stock worth $811,000 after acquiring an additional 29,361 shares in the last quarter. Signaturefd LLC grew its stake in shares of Herbalife by 135.1% during the 3rd quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 2,222 shares of the company’s stock worth $27,000 after acquiring an additional 1,277 shares in the last quarter. Finally, CWA Asset Management Group LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Herbalife in the third quarter valued at approximately $1,052,000.

About Herbalife