Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD Acquires 3,227,487 Shares of Perrigo Company plc $PRGO

Key Points

• Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD increased its stake in Perrigo Company plc by 41.1% in the 1st quarter, acquiring an additional 3,227,487 shares for a total of approximately $310.5 million.
• Perrigo recently announced a quarterly dividend of $0.29 per share, set to be paid on September 16th, reflecting an annualized yield of 4.7%.
• Despite a revenue decline of 0.9% year-over-year, the company reported earnings of $0.57 per share, slightly missing analyst estimates of $0.59.

Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD increased its position in shares of Perrigo Company plc (NYSE:PRGO - Free Report) by 41.1% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 11,073,026 shares of the company's stock after purchasing an additional 3,227,487 shares during the quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD owned 8.05% of Perrigo worth $310,488,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Picton Mahoney Asset Management bought a new stake in Perrigo during the first quarter worth about $42,000. Parallel Advisors LLC lifted its position in Perrigo by 176.9% during the first quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC now owns 1,714 shares of the company's stock worth $48,000 after purchasing an additional 1,095 shares during the period. First Horizon Advisors Inc. lifted its position in Perrigo by 138.3% during the first quarter. First Horizon Advisors Inc. now owns 1,754 shares of the company's stock worth $49,000 after purchasing an additional 1,018 shares during the period. Fifth Third Bancorp lifted its position in Perrigo by 62.0% during the first quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp now owns 2,218 shares of the company's stock worth $62,000 after purchasing an additional 849 shares during the period. Finally, Blue Trust Inc. raised its stake in Perrigo by 110.4% during the first quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 2,619 shares of the company's stock worth $73,000 after acquiring an additional 1,374 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 95.91% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts have commented on PRGO shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their target price on Perrigo from $38.00 to $35.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, August 7th. Wall Street Zen downgraded Perrigo from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Sunday. Finally, Canaccord Genuity Group lowered their target price on Perrigo from $42.00 to $40.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, August 7th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have given a Hold rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $33.00.

Perrigo Trading Up 0.8%

Shares of Perrigo stock traded up $0.19 on Wednesday, hitting $23.92. The stock had a trading volume of 1,187,479 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,481,337. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $25.98 and a 200 day moving average of $26.21. Perrigo Company plc has a twelve month low of $21.03 and a twelve month high of $30.93. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.81, a quick ratio of 1.24 and a current ratio of 2.32. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.29 billion, a P/E ratio of -41.23 and a beta of 0.47.

Perrigo (NYSE:PRGO - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data 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 negative net margin of 1.86% and a positive return on equity of 9.09%. The firm had revenue of $1.06 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.08 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $0.53 EPS. The business's quarterly revenue was down .9% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts expect that Perrigo Company plc will post 2.56 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Perrigo Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 16th. Stockholders of record on Friday, August 29th will be paid a $0.29 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, August 29th. This represents a $1.16 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.9%. Perrigo's dividend payout ratio is currently -200.00%.

Insider Activity

In other news, EVP Robert Willis acquired 1,488 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 22nd. The stock was bought at an average price of $24.10 per share, with a total value of $35,860.80. Following the completion of the purchase, the executive vice president directly owned 41,939 shares of the company's stock, valued at $1,010,729.90. This represents a 3.68% increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director Geoffrey M. Parker bought 4,375 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Monday, August 18th. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $22.97 per share, with a total value of $100,493.75. Following the transaction, 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 disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Insiders bought 8,863 shares of company stock valued at $204,575 over the last quarter. 0.40% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.