USANA Health Sciences (NYSE:USNA) Stock Rating Lowered by Wall Street Zen

Key Points

• Wall Street Zen downgraded USANA Health Sciences (NYSE:USNA) from a "buy" to a "hold," and other research firms (including Zacks and Weiss) have cut ratings, leaving a MarketBeat consensus rating of "Reduce."
• USANA beat quarterly expectations with $0.60 EPS (vs. $0.41 est.) on $226.2M revenue, but reported thin profitability (net margin 1.16%, ROE 6.75%) and analysts project about 1.95 EPS for the fiscal year.

USANA Health Sciences (NYSE:USNA - Get Free Report) was downgraded by research analysts at Wall Street Zen from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a note issued to investors on Saturday.

Several other brokerages have also commented on USNA. Zacks Research lowered USANA Health Sciences from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 22nd. Weiss Ratings restated a "sell (d)" rating on shares of USANA Health Sciences in a research note on Friday, March 27th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, USANA Health Sciences presently has a consensus rating of "Reduce".

USANA Health Sciences Trading Up 1.3%

NYSE:USNA opened at $19.30 on Friday. USANA Health Sciences has a twelve month low of $16.60 and a twelve month high of $38.32. The company has a market cap of $356.28 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 35.09, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.81 and a beta of 0.77. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $18.58 and a 200-day simple moving average of $19.74.

USANA Health Sciences (NYSE:USNA - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, February 17th. The company reported $0.60 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.41 by $0.19. The business had revenue of $226.20 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $225.96 million. USANA Health Sciences had a return on equity of 6.75% and a net margin of 1.16%. As a group, equities research analysts predict that USANA Health Sciences will post 1.95 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Transactions at USANA Health Sciences

In other USANA Health Sciences news, insider Joshua Foukas sold 4,461 shares of USANA Health Sciences stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $21.34, for a total value of $95,197.74. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. 0.82% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On USANA Health Sciences

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Pzena Investment Management LLC grew its stake in USANA Health Sciences by 1.2% in the third quarter. Pzena Investment Management LLC now owns 1,212,588 shares of the company's stock valued at $33,407,000 after purchasing an additional 14,328 shares during the last quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC grew its stake in USANA Health Sciences by 1.9% in the fourth quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 1,147,323 shares of the company's stock valued at $22,522,000 after purchasing an additional 21,793 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in USANA Health Sciences by 5.7% in the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 1,069,032 shares of the company's stock valued at $29,452,000 after purchasing an additional 57,249 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its stake in USANA Health Sciences by 1.9% in the third quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 915,049 shares of the company's stock valued at $25,210,000 after purchasing an additional 17,318 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Nantahala Capital Management LLC purchased a new position in USANA Health Sciences in the fourth quarter valued at about $11,485,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 54.25% of the company's stock.

USANA Health Sciences Company Profile

USANA Health Sciences, Inc is a Utah‐based company that develops, manufactures and distributes nutritional supplements and personal care products through a network of independent distributors. Founded in 1992 by Dr. Myron Wentz, the company's portfolio includes vitamins, minerals, dietary supplements, weight‐management products and skin‐care formulations. USANA's products are formulated in its own laboratories to meet pharmaceutical‐grade standards, and the company has invested heavily in research and development and quality control to support its offerings.

Operating primarily through a direct selling model, USANA serves markets in North America, Asia Pacific, Europe and Latin America.

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