Swiss National Bank Buys 1,700 Shares of Perrigo Company plc (NYSE:PRGO)

Swiss National Bank lifted its stake in Perrigo Company plc (NYSE:PRGO) by 0.6% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 268,300 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 1,700 shares during the quarter. Swiss National Bank owned about 0.20% of Perrigo worth $6,898,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Cooke & Bieler LP lifted its holdings in Perrigo by 4.1% during the fourth quarter. Cooke & Bieler LP now owns 3,573,651 shares of the company’s stock valued at $91,879,000 after purchasing an additional 139,650 shares in the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its holdings in Perrigo by 229.2% in the 3rd quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 2,697,698 shares of the company’s stock worth $70,761,000 after buying an additional 1,878,145 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its stake in Perrigo by 4.7% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 2,359,072 shares of the company’s stock worth $61,894,000 after buying an additional 106,356 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC raised its holdings in Perrigo by 66,795.3% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 1,840,289 shares of the company’s stock valued at $48,271,000 after acquiring an additional 1,837,538 shares during the period. Finally, Bahl & Gaynor Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Perrigo by 44.9% in the fourth quarter. Bahl & Gaynor Inc. now owns 1,525,197 shares of the company’s stock worth $39,213,000 after acquiring an additional 472,958 shares during the period. 95.91% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Perrigo Stock Performance

NYSE:PRGO opened at $27.95 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.94, a current ratio of 2.56 and a quick ratio of 1.77. The company has a market cap of $3.81 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -23.88 and a beta of 0.48. Perrigo Company plc has a 1 year low of $23.14 and a 1 year high of $33.46. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $25.73 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $26.16.

Perrigo (NYSE:PRGO) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 27th. The company reported $0.93 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.92 by $0.01. Perrigo had a negative net margin of 3.64% and a positive return on equity of 7.38%. The company had revenue of $1.14 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.20 billion. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Perrigo Company plc will post 2.56 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Perrigo Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, March 25th. Investors of record on Friday, March 7th will be given a $0.29 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 7th. This represents a $1.16 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.15%. This is a positive change from Perrigo’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.28. Perrigo’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently -92.80%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Perrigo news, EVP Ronald Craig Janish sold 7,800 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, March 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $27.44, for a total transaction of $214,032.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 33,666 shares in the company, valued at $923,795.04. The trade was a 18.81 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. 0.70% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

PRGO has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. StockNews.com downgraded Perrigo from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 19th. Piper Sandler downgraded shares of Perrigo from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and lowered their target price for the stock from $34.00 to $27.00 in a report on Monday, January 6th. Finally, Argus cut shares of Perrigo from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 14th. 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 has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $33.00.

Perrigo Company Profile

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.