Herbalife (NYSE:HLF) Shares Gap Down – Should You Sell?

Herbalife Ltd. (NYSE:HLF) shares gapped down prior to trading on Friday . The stock had previously closed at $8.02, but opened at $7.81. Herbalife shares last traded at $7.79, with a volume of 954,376 shares changing hands.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts recently issued reports on the stock. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Herbalife from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, November 4th. Mizuho increased their target price on shares of Herbalife from $8.00 to $9.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. DA Davidson reiterated a “neutral” rating and issued a $7.50 target price on shares of Herbalife in a research report on Thursday. Finally, B. Riley decreased their target price on shares of Herbalife from $17.00 to $12.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $9.90.

Herbalife Trading Up 3.1 %

The company’s 50-day moving average price is $6.29 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $7.21. The company has a market cap of $836.72 million, a P/E ratio of 3.32, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.29 and a beta of 1.15.

Herbalife (NYSE:HLF) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 19th. The company reported $0.36 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.08 by $0.28. Herbalife had a net margin of 5.09% and a negative return on equity of 20.78%. The company had revenue of $1.21 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.19 billion. Equities analysts forecast that Herbalife Ltd. will post 1.57 earnings per share for the current year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Perpetual Ltd boosted its holdings in shares of Herbalife by 107.1% in the fourth quarter. Perpetual Ltd now owns 966,063 shares of the company’s stock worth $6,463,000 after buying an additional 499,572 shares during the period. Barclays PLC boosted its holdings in shares of Herbalife by 347.0% in the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 161,426 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,160,000 after buying an additional 125,311 shares during the period. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Herbalife by 72.1% in the third quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 168,209 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,209,000 after buying an additional 70,498 shares during the period. SG Americas Securities LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Herbalife by 83.5% in the fourth quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 18,884 shares of the company’s stock worth $126,000 after buying an additional 8,591 shares during the period. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Herbalife by 6.9% in the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 2,479,957 shares of the company’s stock worth $17,831,000 after buying an additional 160,792 shares during the period.

Herbalife Company Profile

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.