Stock Traders Purchase High Volume of Herbalife Call Options (NYSE:HLF)

Key Points

• Herbalife Ltd (NYSE:HLF) experienced a significant surge in call options trading, with investors purchasing 23,368 options, marking a 753% increase from the average volume.
• Major institutional investors such as Northern Trust Corp and AXA S.A. have notably increased their stakes in Herbalife, with increases of 14.5% and 432.3% respectively during the last quarter.
• The stock recently traded at $9.94, with analysts projecting an earnings per share (EPS) of 1.57 for the current fiscal year, while the consensus target price stands at $11.50.

Herbalife Ltd (NYSE:HLF - Get Free Report) saw unusually large options trading activity on Wednesday. Investors purchased 23,368 call options on the company. Thisrepresentsanincreaseof753% compared to the average volume of 2,741 call options.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in HLF. Northern Trust Corp raised its holdings in shares of Herbalife by 14.5% during the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 1,002,676 shares of the company's stock worth $6,708,000 after acquiring an additional 126,902 shares in the last quarter. AXA S.A. raised its holdings in Herbalife by 432.3% during the 4th quarter. AXA S.A. now owns 162,428 shares of the company's stock valued at $1,087,000 after buying an additional 131,916 shares during the period. Algert Global LLC raised its holdings in Herbalife by 375.2% during the 4th quarter. Algert Global LLC now owns 206,009 shares of the company's stock valued at $1,378,000 after buying an additional 162,656 shares during the period. Ameriprise Financial Inc. raised its holdings in Herbalife by 218.5% during the 4th quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 812,692 shares of the company's stock valued at $5,437,000 after buying an additional 557,518 shares during the period. Finally, Bayesian Capital Management LP bought a new position in Herbalife in the 4th quarter valued at $221,000.

Herbalife Stock Performance

HLF traded up $0.15 on Wednesday, reaching $9.94. The company had a trading volume of 1,427,721 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,145,225. Herbalife has a 52-week low of $5.04 and a 52-week high of $10.83. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $9.44 and a 200 day simple moving average of $8.24. The company has a market cap of $1.02 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 3.13, a P/E/G ratio of 0.30 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, beating the consensus estimate of $0.53 by $0.06. The business had revenue of $1.26 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.27 billion. Herbalife had a negative return on equity of 27.36% and a net margin of 6.59%.The company's revenue for the quarter was down 1.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.54 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Herbalife will post 1.57 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Mizuho increased their price objective on shares of Herbalife from $8.00 to $9.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research report on Monday, July 28th. Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Herbalife from a "strong-buy" rating to a "buy" rating in a research report on Sunday, August 10th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has given a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $11.50.

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.

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