Herbalife (NYSE:HLF) Shares Down 5.3% – Time to Sell?

Herbalife Ltd. (NYSE:HLF) dropped 5.3% on Tuesday . The company traded as low as $8.12 and last traded at $8.17. Approximately 258,726 shares were traded during mid-day trading, a decline of 88% from the average daily volume of 2,126,640 shares. The stock had previously closed at $8.63.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

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

Herbalife Stock Down 6.3 %

The stock has a market capitalization of $815.39 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.15, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.29 and a beta of 1.17. The business’s 50-day moving average is $7.45 and its two-hundred day moving average is $9.18.

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

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, Director Juan Miguel Mendoza acquired 10,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, September 9th. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $7.11 per share, for a total transaction of $71,100.00. Following the acquisition, the director now owns 120,000 shares in the company, valued at $853,200. The trade was a 9.09 % increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Insiders acquired a total of 15,000 shares of company stock valued at $112,275 over the last quarter. 0.94% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Herbalife

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. GAMMA Investing LLC grew its stake in shares of Herbalife by 465.3% in the second quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 3,533 shares of the company’s stock valued at $37,000 after buying an additional 2,908 shares in the last quarter. nVerses Capital LLC increased its stake in Herbalife by 240.0% during the second quarter. nVerses Capital LLC now owns 5,100 shares of the company’s stock worth $53,000 after purchasing an additional 3,600 shares during the period. Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio lifted its position in shares of Herbalife by 22.9% during the first quarter. Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio now owns 5,558 shares of the company’s stock worth $56,000 after purchasing an additional 1,035 shares in the last quarter. Carolina Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Herbalife during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $78,000. Finally, Van ECK Associates Corp increased its stake in Herbalife by 10.3% during the 2nd quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 8,684 shares of the company’s stock worth $90,000 after buying an additional 808 shares during the period.

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.