Franklin Resources Inc. Reduces Position in Perrigo Company plc (NYSE:PRGO)

Franklin Resources Inc. decreased its holdings in Perrigo Company plc (NYSE:PRGO - Free Report) by 10.3% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 137,944 shares of the company's stock after selling 15,767 shares during the quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. owned about 0.10% of Perrigo worth $3,547,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Perrigo in the fourth quarter valued at about $36,614,000. Bahl & Gaynor Inc. grew its holdings in Perrigo by 44.9% during the 4th quarter. Bahl & Gaynor Inc. now owns 1,525,197 shares of the company's stock valued at $39,213,000 after buying an additional 472,958 shares during the last quarter. Access Investment Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Perrigo in the fourth quarter worth $7,989,000. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its position in shares of Perrigo by 65.1% in the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 541,000 shares of the company's stock valued at $14,190,000 after acquiring an additional 213,221 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Cooke & Bieler LP increased its position in Perrigo by 4.1% during the 4th quarter. Cooke & Bieler LP now owns 3,573,651 shares of the company's stock worth $91,879,000 after purchasing an additional 139,650 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 95.91% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have issued reports on PRGO. StockNews.com cut shares of Perrigo from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 19th. Argus downgraded Perrigo from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Tuesday, January 14th. Finally, Piper Sandler cut Perrigo from an "overweight" rating to a "neutral" rating and decreased their price objective for the stock from $34.00 to $27.00 in a report on Monday, January 6th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and one has issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $33.00.

Insider Activity

In other Perrigo news, EVP Ronald Craig Janish sold 7,800 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $27.44, for a total value of $214,032.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 33,666 shares in the company, valued at $923,795.04. This represents a 18.81 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Insiders own 0.70% of the company's stock.

Perrigo Trading Up 0.4 %

Shares of PRGO traded up $0.09 during mid-day trading on Thursday, reaching $25.23. The company had a trading volume of 141,080 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,517,258. The stock has a market cap of $3.44 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -21.62 and a beta of 0.49. The company has a current ratio of 2.56, a quick ratio of 1.77 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.94. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $26.45 and a 200-day simple moving average of $26.05. Perrigo Company plc has a fifty-two week low of $23.14 and a fifty-two week high of $33.46.

Perrigo (NYSE:PRGO - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 27th. The company reported $0.93 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.92 by $0.01. Perrigo had a positive return on equity of 7.38% and a negative net margin of 3.64%. The company had revenue of $1.14 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.20 billion. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Perrigo Company plc will post 2.56 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Perrigo Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 25th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 7th were given a $0.29 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 7th. This represents a $1.16 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.60%. This is a positive change from Perrigo's previous quarterly dividend of $0.28. Perrigo's dividend payout ratio is presently -92.80%.

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.