Vanguard Group Inc. Sells 904,531 Shares of Perrigo Company plc (NYSE:PRGO)

Vanguard Group Inc. lowered its position in shares of Perrigo Company plc (NYSE:PRGO) by 6.1% during the first quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 13,968,429 shares of the company’s stock after selling 904,531 shares during the quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. owned 0.10% of Perrigo worth $391,675,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD grew its stake in shares of Perrigo by 6,828.9% in the 4th quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 7,845,539 shares of the company’s stock valued at $201,710,000 after buying an additional 7,732,309 shares during the period. Ion Asset Management Ltd. grew its stake in shares of Perrigo by 50.1% in the 4th quarter. Ion Asset Management Ltd. now owns 2,820,000 shares of the company’s stock valued at $72,502,000 after buying an additional 941,667 shares during the period. Sound Shore Management Inc. CT grew its stake in shares of Perrigo by 23.1% in the 1st quarter. Sound Shore Management Inc. CT now owns 3,285,167 shares of the company’s stock valued at $92,116,000 after buying an additional 616,387 shares during the period. BW Gestao de Investimentos Ltda. grew its stake in shares of Perrigo by 111.6% in the 4th quarter. BW Gestao de Investimentos Ltda. now owns 1,097,192 shares of the company’s stock valued at $28,209,000 after buying an additional 578,597 shares during the period. Finally, Boone Capital Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Perrigo by 126.1% in the 4th quarter. Boone Capital Management LLC now owns 1,022,369 shares of the company’s stock valued at $26,285,000 after buying an additional 570,148 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 95.91% of the company’s stock.

Perrigo Trading Down 1.3%

PRGO opened at $22.73 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.81, a current ratio of 2.32 and a quick ratio of 1.24. Perrigo Company plc has a fifty-two week low of $21.03 and a fifty-two week high of $30.93. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.13 billion, a PE ratio of -39.19 and a beta of 0.47. The company’s 50-day moving average is $26.42 and its 200 day moving average is $26.26.

Perrigo (NYSE:PRGO) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, August 6th. The company reported $0.57 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.59 by ($0.02). Perrigo had a positive return on equity of 9.09% and a negative net margin of 1.86%. The business had revenue of $1.06 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.08 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.53 EPS. The company’s revenue was down .9% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts predict that Perrigo Company plc will post 2.56 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Perrigo Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 16th. Shareholders of record on Friday, August 29th will be paid a $0.29 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, August 29th. This represents a $1.16 annualized dividend and a yield of 5.1%. Perrigo’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is -200.00%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages have recently commented on PRGO. Wall Street Zen upgraded Perrigo from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Saturday. Canaccord Genuity Group set a $40.00 target price on Perrigo and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 7th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their target price on Perrigo from $38.00 to $35.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, August 7th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $33.00.

About Perrigo

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.