Pekin Hardy Strauss Inc. Boosts Holdings in Herbalife Ltd. (NYSE:HLF)

Pekin Hardy Strauss Inc. raised its stake in Herbalife Ltd. (NYSE:HLF) by 45.5% during the third quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 496,360 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 155,157 shares during the period. Pekin Hardy Strauss Inc.’s holdings in Herbalife were worth $3,569,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Russell Investments Group Ltd. grew its holdings in Herbalife by 5,249.2% during the first quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. now owns 138,599 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,390,000 after purchasing an additional 136,008 shares during the period. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD raised its stake in shares of Herbalife by 4.6% in the first quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 82,287 shares of the company’s stock valued at $827,000 after buying an additional 3,647 shares during the period. Baupost Group LLC MA lifted its position in shares of Herbalife by 128.3% during the 2nd quarter. Baupost Group LLC MA now owns 5,124,526 shares of the company’s stock valued at $53,244,000 after buying an additional 2,879,603 shares during the last quarter. Marshall Wace LLP grew its stake in shares of Herbalife by 2,053.6% during the 2nd quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 1,977,155 shares of the company’s stock worth $20,543,000 after acquiring an additional 1,885,346 shares during the period. Finally, Maverick Capital Ltd. increased its holdings in Herbalife by 409.4% in the 2nd quarter. Maverick Capital Ltd. now owns 127,887 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,329,000 after acquiring an additional 102,784 shares during the last quarter.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

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

Herbalife Trading Down 0.9 %

Shares of NYSE:HLF opened at $8.42 on Friday. The company has a 50 day moving average of $7.42 and a 200 day moving average of $9.21. The stock has a market cap of $848.65 million, a P/E ratio of 9.91, a P/E/G ratio of 0.30 and a beta of 1.17. Herbalife Ltd. has a 12 month low of $6.59 and a 12 month high of $15.66.

Herbalife (NYSE:HLF) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The company reported $0.57 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.19 by $0.38. The firm had revenue of $1.24 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.23 billion. Herbalife had a net margin of 1.73% and a negative return on equity of 18.66%. On average, equities analysts forecast that Herbalife Ltd. will post 1.51 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Director Juan Miguel Mendoza purchased 10,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, August 26th. The shares were acquired at an average price of $8.72 per share, for a total transaction of $87,200.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 110,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $959,200. This trade represents a 10.00 % increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Insiders acquired a total of 25,000 shares of company stock worth $199,475 over the last ninety days. 0.94% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

About Herbalife

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.