American Century Companies Inc. Increases Stake in Helen of Troy Limited (NASDAQ:HELE)

American Century Companies Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Helen of Troy Limited (NASDAQ:HELE) by 10.1% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 49,293 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 4,528 shares during the period. American Century Companies Inc.’s holdings in Helen of Troy were worth $2,949,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the stock. William Blair Investment Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Helen of Troy by 2.0% during the fourth quarter. William Blair Investment Management LLC now owns 440,851 shares of the company’s stock valued at $26,376,000 after buying an additional 8,597 shares during the last quarter. Royce & Associates LP acquired a new stake in Helen of Troy during the 4th quarter worth about $355,000. Swiss National Bank grew its stake in Helen of Troy by 0.9% during the 4th quarter. Swiss National Bank now owns 45,000 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,692,000 after purchasing an additional 400 shares during the last quarter. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. acquired a new position in shares of Helen of Troy in the fourth quarter valued at about $484,000. Finally, Avantax Advisory Services Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Helen of Troy in the fourth quarter worth about $803,000.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages recently commented on HELE. UBS Group dropped their target price on Helen of Troy from $79.00 to $69.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th. StockNews.com raised shares of Helen of Troy from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 12th.

Helen of Troy Stock Performance

Shares of HELE stock opened at $42.19 on Tuesday. Helen of Troy Limited has a 52-week low of $41.51 and a 52-week high of $110.76. The company has a quick ratio of 1.05, a current ratio of 1.92 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.45. The stock has a market cap of $964.29 million, a PE ratio of 8.51, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.80 and a beta of 0.89. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $55.15 and a 200-day simple moving average of $61.65.

Helen of Troy (NASDAQ:HELE) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 8th. The company reported $2.67 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.60 by $0.07. Helen of Troy had a return on equity of 9.13% and a net margin of 6.05%. The company had revenue of $530.70 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $532.91 million. During the same period last year, the business earned $2.79 earnings per share. Helen of Troy’s quarterly revenue was down 3.4% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts expect that Helen of Troy Limited will post 6.46 EPS for the current year.

Helen of Troy Profile

Helen of Troy Limited provides various consumer products in the United States, Canada, Europe, the Middle East, Africa, the Asia Pacific, and Latin America. The company operates in two segments: Home & Outdoor and Beauty & Wellness. The Home & Outdoor segment offers food storage containers, kitchen utensils for cooking and preparing salads, fruits, vegetables and meats, graters, slicers and choppers, baking essentials, kitchen organization, bath, cleaning, infant and toddler products, and coffee preparation tools and electronics; and insulated beverageware, including bottles, travel tumblers, drinkware, mugs, food and lunch containers, insulated totes, soft coolers, outdoor kitchenware, and accessories.