Vanguard Group Inc. Has $391.68 Million Position in Perrigo Company plc $PRGO

Key Points

• Vanguard Group Inc. has reduced its stake in Perrigo Company plc by 6.1%, now holding approximately 10.24% of the company, which is valued at around $391.68 million.
• Several analysts have upgraded Perrigo's rating recently, with a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a target price of $33.00.
• Perrigo announced a quarterly dividend of $0.29 per share, resulting in an annualized dividend yield of 5.1%, despite a current payout ratio of -200.00%.

Vanguard Group Inc. lessened its stake in shares of Perrigo Company plc (NYSE:PRGO - Free Report) by 6.1% during the first quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 13,968,429 shares of the company's stock after selling 904,531 shares during the quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. owned about 10.24% of Perrigo worth $391,675,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the stock. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD increased its stake in shares of Perrigo by 6,828.9% during the fourth quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 7,845,539 shares of the company's stock valued at $201,710,000 after acquiring an additional 7,732,309 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its stake in shares of Perrigo by 0.4% during the fourth quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 6,989,530 shares of the company's stock valued at $179,698,000 after acquiring an additional 27,835 shares during the period. Deprince Race & Zollo Inc. increased its stake in shares of Perrigo by 1.1% during the fourth quarter. Deprince Race & Zollo Inc. now owns 4,557,844 shares of the company's stock valued at $117,182,000 after acquiring an additional 50,728 shares during the period. Sound Shore Management Inc. CT increased its stake in shares of Perrigo by 23.1% during the first quarter. Sound Shore Management Inc. CT now owns 3,285,167 shares of the company's stock valued at $92,116,000 after acquiring an additional 616,387 shares during the period. Finally, Ion Asset Management Ltd. increased its stake in shares of Perrigo by 50.1% during the fourth quarter. Ion Asset Management Ltd. now owns 2,820,000 shares of the company's stock valued at $72,502,000 after acquiring an additional 941,667 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 95.91% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have issued reports on PRGO. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price target on shares of Perrigo from $38.00 to $35.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, August 7th. Canaccord Genuity Group decreased their price target on shares of Perrigo from $42.00 to $40.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, August 7th. Finally, Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Perrigo from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research report on Saturday. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $33.00.

Insider Activity at Perrigo

In other news, Director Geoffrey M. Parker acquired 4,375 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, August 18th. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $22.97 per share, for a total transaction of $100,493.75. Following the transaction, the director owned 33,287 shares in the company, valued at approximately $764,602.39. This trade represents a 15.13% increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CFO Eduardo Guarita Bezerra bought 3,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Monday, August 18th. The shares were bought at an average cost of $22.74 per share, with a total value of $68,220.00. Following the purchase, the chief financial officer directly owned 48,949 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,113,100.26. This trade represents a 6.53% increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Insiders own 0.70% of the company's stock.

Perrigo Trading Up 0.4%

NYSE PRGO traded up $0.0850 on Wednesday, hitting $23.6850. 1,169,907 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,901,440. Perrigo Company plc has a 52-week low of $21.03 and a 52-week high of $30.93. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.81, a current ratio of 2.32 and a quick ratio of 1.24. The company has a market capitalization of $3.26 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -40.84 and a beta of 0.47. The company's 50-day moving average price is $26.20 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $26.24.

Perrigo (NYSE:PRGO - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, August 6th. The company reported $0.57 earnings per share 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 firm had revenue of $1.06 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $1.08 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.53 earnings per share. The company's revenue for the quarter was down .9% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts predict that Perrigo Company plc will post 2.56 EPS for the current year.

Perrigo Dividend Announcement

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

Perrigo 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.