Herbalife (NYSE:HLF) Stock Rating Upgraded by Wall Street Zen

Key Points

• Herbalife's stock rating was upgraded by Wall Street Zen from "buy" to "strong-buy," reflecting increased analyst confidence.
• Mizuho raised its price target for Herbalife from $8.00 to $9.00, while the average target price among analysts is $11.50.
• Herbalife reported earnings of $0.59 EPS, surpassing estimates, but experienced a revenue decline of 1.7% from the previous year.

Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Herbalife (NYSE:HLF - Free Report) from a buy rating to a strong-buy rating in a research report sent to investors on Saturday.

Separately, Mizuho boosted their target price on Herbalife from $8.00 to $9.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Monday, July 28th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $11.50.

Herbalife Price Performance

Shares of HLF stock traded up $0.12 on Friday, reaching $9.23. 32,248 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,093,009. Herbalife has a one year low of $5.04 and a one year high of $10.83. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $9.44 and a 200 day moving average price of $8.40. The stock has a market cap of $951.19 million, a PE ratio of 2.91, a P/E/G ratio of 0.28 and a beta of 0.89.

Herbalife (NYSE:HLF - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, August 6th. The company reported $0.59 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $0.53 by $0.06. Herbalife had a negative return on equity of 27.36% and a net margin of 6.59%.The business had revenue of $1.26 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $1.27 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.54 earnings per share. The firm's quarterly revenue was down 1.7% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts expect that Herbalife will post 1.57 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Herbalife

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in HLF. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in shares of Herbalife by 10.9% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 12,495,374 shares of the company's stock valued at $107,835,000 after purchasing an additional 1,223,957 shares during the last quarter. Fund 1 Investments LLC acquired a new stake in Herbalife during the second quarter worth approximately $8,491,000. Cubist Systematic Strategies LLC grew its position in Herbalife by 6,837.9% during the first quarter. Cubist Systematic Strategies LLC now owns 889,400 shares of the company's stock worth $7,676,000 after buying an additional 902,600 shares in the last quarter. Tenzing Global Management LLC acquired a new stake in Herbalife during the first quarter worth approximately $6,904,000. Finally, Ameriprise Financial Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Herbalife by 218.5% in the 4th quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 812,692 shares of the company's stock valued at $5,437,000 after purchasing an additional 557,518 shares in the last quarter.

About Herbalife

Herbalife Ltd. provides health and wellness products in North America, Mexico, South and Central America, Europe, the Middle East, Africa, China, and the Asia Pacific. It offers products in the areas of weight management; targeted nutrition; energy, sports, and fitness; outer nutrition; and literature and promotional items.