Perrigo Company plc $PRGO Stake Cut by Clearline Capital LP

Key Points

• Clearline Capital LP significantly reduced its stake in Perrigo Company plc by 90.6%, now holding only 0.09% of the company worth approximately $3.65 million.
• Perrigo's stock has experienced a recent price drop, with analysts adjusting their price targets for the stock down to an average target of $33.00 after mixed earnings results.
• The company announced a quarterly dividend of $0.29 per share, reflecting a 5.1% yield, despite its negative dividend payout ratio of -200.00%.

Clearline Capital LP decreased its holdings in Perrigo Company plc (NYSE:PRGO - Free Report) by 90.6% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 130,253 shares of the company's stock after selling 1,252,143 shares during the quarter. Clearline Capital LP owned approximately 0.09% of Perrigo worth $3,652,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD lifted its stake in shares of Perrigo by 41.1% in the 1st quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 11,073,026 shares of the company's stock valued at $310,488,000 after purchasing an additional 3,227,487 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its holdings in Perrigo by 2.1% in the 1st quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 7,135,741 shares of the company's stock worth $200,085,000 after acquiring an additional 146,211 shares during the period. Sound Shore Management Inc. CT boosted its holdings in Perrigo by 23.1% in the 1st quarter. Sound Shore Management Inc. CT now owns 3,285,167 shares of the company's stock worth $92,116,000 after acquiring an additional 616,387 shares during the period. Ion Asset Management Ltd. boosted its holdings in Perrigo by 0.5% in the 1st quarter. Ion Asset Management Ltd. now owns 2,833,894 shares of the company's stock worth $79,462,000 after acquiring an additional 13,894 shares during the period. Finally, Copeland Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in Perrigo by 2.6% in the 1st quarter. Copeland Capital Management LLC now owns 2,452,786 shares of the company's stock worth $68,776,000 after acquiring an additional 63,022 shares during the period. 95.91% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Transactions at Perrigo

In related news, Director Geoffrey M. Parker bought 4,375 shares of Perrigo stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 18th. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $22.97 per share, with a total value of $100,493.75. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director directly owned 33,287 shares in the company, valued at approximately $764,602.39. This trade represents a 15.13% increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, EVP Robert Willis bought 1,488 shares of Perrigo stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 22nd. The shares were bought at an average cost of $24.10 per share, with a total value of $35,860.80. Following the completion of the acquisition, the executive vice president owned 41,939 shares of the company's stock, valued at $1,010,729.90. The trade was a 3.68% increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders acquired 10,118 shares of company stock worth $232,699. Corporate insiders own 0.70% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have weighed in on PRGO. Canaccord Genuity Group decreased their price target on Perrigo from $42.00 to $40.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a report on Thursday, August 7th. Wall Street Zen upgraded Perrigo from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a report on Friday, September 5th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price target on Perrigo from $38.00 to $35.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a report on Thursday, August 7th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Perrigo presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $33.00.

Perrigo Stock Performance

PRGO traded down $0.29 during trading on Friday, reaching $22.26. 1,328,437 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,416,799. The stock has a market cap of $3.06 billion, a P/E ratio of -38.38 and a beta of 0.48. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $25.00 and a 200 day moving average of $26.05. The company has a current ratio of 2.32, a quick ratio of 1.24 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.81. Perrigo Company plc has a 52 week low of $21.03 and a 52 week high of $30.93.

Perrigo (NYSE:PRGO - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, August 6th. The company reported $0.57 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.59 by ($0.02). Perrigo had a positive return on equity of 9.09% and a negative net margin of 1.86%.The business had revenue of $1.06 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.08 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.53 EPS. The company's revenue for the quarter was down .9% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Perrigo Company plc will post 2.56 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Perrigo Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 16th. Investors of record on Friday, August 29th will be paid a dividend of $0.29 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, August 29th. This represents a $1.16 annualized dividend and a yield of 5.2%. Perrigo's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently -200.00%.

Perrigo Company Profile

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.