Earnest Partners LLC Purchases 118,982 Shares of Helen of Troy Limited (NASDAQ:HELE)

Earnest Partners LLC raised its stake in shares of Helen of Troy Limited (NASDAQ:HELE - Free Report) by 18.6% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 757,339 shares of the company's stock after purchasing an additional 118,982 shares during the period. Earnest Partners LLC owned approximately 3.31% of Helen of Troy worth $45,312,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Swiss National Bank boosted its stake in shares of Helen of Troy by 0.9% in the 4th quarter. Swiss National Bank now owns 45,000 shares of the company's stock worth $2,692,000 after buying an additional 400 shares during the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of Helen of Troy by 5.2% during the 4th quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 131,305 shares of the company's stock worth $7,856,000 after purchasing an additional 6,471 shares during the period. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership boosted its holdings in shares of Helen of Troy by 446.0% in the 4th quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 646,746 shares of the company's stock worth $38,695,000 after buying an additional 528,305 shares during the last quarter. KBC Group NV grew its position in Helen of Troy by 73.1% during the fourth quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 1,352 shares of the company's stock valued at $81,000 after buying an additional 571 shares during the period. Finally, Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. purchased a new stake in Helen of Troy during the fourth quarter worth about $484,000.

Helen of Troy Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ HELE traded up $0.50 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $28.21. The company's stock had a trading volume of 684,716 shares, compared to its average volume of 536,369. The firm has a market capitalization of $647.22 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 5.69, a P/E/G ratio of 1.80 and a beta of 0.89. The company has a current ratio of 1.92, a quick ratio of 1.05 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.45. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $44.28 and a 200 day moving average price of $57.22. Helen of Troy Limited has a one year low of $26.71 and a one year high of $110.76.

Helen of Troy (NASDAQ:HELE - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, April 24th. The company reported $2.33 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $2.35 by ($0.02). Helen of Troy had a net margin of 6.05% and a return on equity of 9.13%. The business had revenue of $485.89 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $481.55 million. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $2.45 EPS. The company's revenue was down .7% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts forecast that Helen of Troy Limited will post 6.46 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms have weighed in on HELE. Canaccord Genuity Group dropped their target price on shares of Helen of Troy from $92.00 to $70.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, April 22nd. UBS Group dropped their price objective on Helen of Troy from $68.00 to $38.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, April 17th. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded Helen of Troy from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Friday.

Helen of Troy Company Profile

Helen of Troy Limited provides various consumer products in the United States, Canada, Europe, the Middle East, Africa, the Asia Pacific, and Latin America. The company operates in two segments: Home & Outdoor and Beauty & Wellness. The Home & Outdoor segment offers food storage containers, kitchen utensils for cooking and preparing salads, fruits, vegetables and meats, graters, slicers and choppers, baking essentials, kitchen organization, bath, cleaning, infant and toddler products, and coffee preparation tools and electronics; and insulated beverageware, including bottles, travel tumblers, drinkware, mugs, food and lunch containers, insulated totes, soft coolers, outdoor kitchenware, and accessories.