Gabelli Funds LLC Lowers Stake in Perrigo Company plc (NYSE:PRGO)

Gabelli Funds LLC decreased its holdings in shares of Perrigo Company plc (NYSE:PRGO) by 0.8% in the first quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 421,700 shares of the company’s stock after selling 3,300 shares during the period. Gabelli Funds LLC owned 0.31% of Perrigo worth $13,575,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the business. NBC Securities Inc. increased its stake in shares of Perrigo by 3.5% during the fourth quarter. NBC Securities Inc. now owns 9,983 shares of the company’s stock valued at $321,000 after purchasing an additional 340 shares in the last quarter. Patriot Financial Group Insurance Agency LLC grew its holdings in shares of Perrigo by 4.1% during the fourth quarter. Patriot Financial Group Insurance Agency LLC now owns 9,627 shares of the company’s stock valued at $310,000 after buying an additional 380 shares during the last quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp grew its holdings in shares of Perrigo by 23.8% during the first quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp now owns 2,071 shares of the company’s stock valued at $67,000 after buying an additional 398 shares during the last quarter. Blue Trust Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Perrigo by 34.5% during the fourth quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 1,556 shares of the company’s stock valued at $50,000 after buying an additional 399 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Xponance Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Perrigo by 2.1% during the fourth quarter. Xponance Inc. now owns 20,153 shares of the company’s stock valued at $649,000 after buying an additional 410 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 95.91% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have recently commented on PRGO. StockNews.com cut shares of Perrigo from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 23rd. Piper Sandler cut their price target on shares of Perrigo from $36.00 to $35.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, July 11th. Finally, Canaccord Genuity Group reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $42.00 price target on shares of Perrigo in a report on Friday, April 12th.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Perrigo news, EVP Svend Andersen purchased 1,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, May 28th. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $27.90 per share, for a total transaction of $27,900.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 101,853 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,841,698.70. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Insiders own 0.70% of the company’s stock.

Perrigo Stock Performance

PRGO stock traded up $0.04 on Friday, hitting $28.11. The company had a trading volume of 786,338 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,382,836. Perrigo Company plc has a 12-month low of $24.82 and a 12-month high of $40.28. The company has a current ratio of 1.81, a quick ratio of 1.08 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.77. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $27.08 and its 200 day simple moving average is $29.82. The stock has a market cap of $3.83 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -401.57 and a beta of 0.51.

Perrigo (NYSE:PRGO) last issued its earnings results on Saturday, May 4th. The company reported $0.29 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.23 by $0.06. Perrigo had a negative net margin of 0.17% and a positive return on equity of 6.96%. The company had revenue of $1.08 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.09 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $0.45 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 8.4% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Perrigo Company plc will post 2.56 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Perrigo Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, June 18th. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 31st were given a $0.276 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, May 31st. This represents a $1.10 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.93%. Perrigo’s payout ratio is presently -1,571.43%.

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.