Marshall Wace LLP Buys 658,536 Shares of Herbalife Ltd. (NYSE:HLF)

Marshall Wace LLP grew its position in shares of Herbalife Ltd. (NYSE:HLF - Free Report) by 83.8% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 1,444,343 shares of the company's stock after purchasing an additional 658,536 shares during the period. Marshall Wace LLP owned approximately 1.43% of Herbalife worth $9,663,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership grew its position in Herbalife by 777.0% during the fourth quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 2,987,490 shares of the company's stock worth $19,986,000 after buying an additional 2,646,848 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in shares of Herbalife by 7.5% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 11,271,417 shares of the company's stock worth $75,406,000 after purchasing an additional 785,574 shares during the last quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC raised its stake in Herbalife by 9.9% in the fourth quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 7,088,868 shares of the company's stock valued at $47,425,000 after purchasing an additional 638,567 shares in the last quarter. Thompson Siegel & Walmsley LLC lifted its position in Herbalife by 110.2% during the fourth quarter. Thompson Siegel & Walmsley LLC now owns 1,022,605 shares of the company's stock valued at $6,841,000 after purchasing an additional 536,196 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Perpetual Ltd grew its stake in Herbalife by 107.1% in the 4th quarter. Perpetual Ltd now owns 966,063 shares of the company's stock worth $6,463,000 after buying an additional 499,572 shares in the last quarter.

Insider Activity at Herbalife

In other news, Director Juan Miguel Mendoza acquired 5,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 27th. The stock was acquired at an average price of $8.25 per share, with a total value of $41,250.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 132,500 shares of the company's stock, valued at $1,093,125. This represents a 3.92 % increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. 1.73% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

HLF has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. DA Davidson upgraded shares of Herbalife from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and upped their target price for the stock from $7.50 to $14.00 in a research report on Friday, March 21st. StockNews.com cut Herbalife from a "strong-buy" rating to a "buy" rating in a report on Friday, April 18th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $12.00.

Herbalife Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE HLF traded down $0.31 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $6.65. The company's stock had a trading volume of 1,812,351 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,254,792. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $7.81 and a 200-day simple moving average of $7.25. The stock has a market cap of $673.92 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 2.67, a P/E/G ratio of 0.29 and a beta of 1.02. Herbalife Ltd. has a 12 month low of $5.04 and a 12 month high of $12.79.

Herbalife (NYSE:HLF - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, February 19th. The company reported $0.36 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.08 by $0.28. Herbalife had a negative return on equity of 20.78% and a net margin of 5.09%. The firm had revenue of $1.21 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $1.19 billion. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Herbalife Ltd. will post 1.57 EPS for the current year.

Herbalife Profile

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.