Herbalife Ltd (NYSE:HLF) Stock Now Rated "Moderate Buy" by Wall Street Brokerages

Key Points

• Analyst sentiment is moderately positive: Eight analysts rate Herbalife “Moderate Buy”—three buys, one strong buy and four holds—with an average one-year price target of $17.67.
• Herbalife beat quarterly expectations, reporting EPS of $0.64 versus $0.62 expected and revenue of $1.35 billion versus $1.31 billion; revenue rose 3.9% year over year.
• The board authorized a $250 million share repurchase program, allowing the company to buy back up to 19.3% of its outstanding shares.

Herbalife Ltd (NYSE:HLF - Get Free Report) has been given an average recommendation of "Moderate Buy" by the eight analysts that are presently covering the firm, Marketbeat Ratings reports. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation, three have given a buy recommendation and one has issued a strong buy recommendation on the company. The average 1 year price target among analysts that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $17.67.

Several equities research analysts have issued reports on HLF shares. Wall Street Zen upgraded Herbalife from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a report on Monday. Texas Capital raised shares of Herbalife to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, September 17th. Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of Herbalife from a "hold (c)" rating to a "hold (c+)" rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 4th. UBS Group set a $21.00 price target on shares of Herbalife in a research note on Thursday, September 17th. Finally, Zacks Research downgraded shares of Herbalife from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Thursday, October 29th.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Herbalife

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Signaturefd LLC boosted its stake in Herbalife by 135.1% during the 3rd quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 2,222 shares of the company's stock valued at $27,000 after purchasing an additional 1,277 shares during the period. KBC Group NV bought a new stake in Herbalife during the 1st quarter valued at $44,000. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC raised its stake in Herbalife by 12.6% during the 1st quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 7,366 shares of the company's stock valued at $108,000 after acquiring an additional 822 shares in the last quarter. Tidal Investments LLC acquired a new position in Herbalife during the 2nd quarter worth $140,000. Finally, Echo45 Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Herbalife during the 3rd quarter worth $143,000.

Herbalife Trading Down 1.0%

NYSE HLF opened at $15.54 on Wednesday. The company's fifty day simple moving average is $13.08 and its 200-day simple moving average is $13.95. Herbalife has a 52 week low of $8.65 and a 52 week high of $20.40. The stock has a market cap of $1.63 billion, a P/E ratio of 9.25, a PEG ratio of 0.49 and a beta of 0.74.

Herbalife (NYSE:HLF - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Monday, November 2nd. The company reported $0.64 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $0.62 by $0.02. Herbalife had a net margin of 3.41% and a negative return on equity of 52.54%. The firm had revenue of $1.35 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.31 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $0.50 EPS. The firm's revenue was up 3.9% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts expect that Herbalife will post 2.68 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Herbalife declared that its board has approved a share repurchase program on Tuesday, September 8th that permits the company to buy back $250 million in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization permits the company to buy up to 19.3% of its stock through open market purchases. Share buyback programs are typically an indication that the company's board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

Herbalife Company Profile

Herbalife Ltd. is a global nutrition company that develops and sells products focused on nutrition, weight management, fitness and personal care. Its offerings include meal-replacement shakes, protein products, dietary supplements, teas and sports-nutrition products. Founded in 1980 by Mark Hughes, Herbalife sells its products through a network of independent distributors who also provide product information and support to customers. The company serves customers in markets around the world and is headquartered in Los Angeles, California.

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