Perrigo Company plc (NYSE:PRGO) Short Interest Update

Perrigo Company plc (NYSE:PRGO) was the target of a significant drop in short interest in September. As of September 15th, there was short interest totalling 4,260,000 shares, a drop of 18.1% from the August 31st total of 5,200,000 shares. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 1,330,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 3.2 days.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Katherine C. Doyle sold 8,954 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, September 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $27.30, for a total transaction of $244,444.20. Following the transaction, the director now owns 6,009 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $164,045.70. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. In other Perrigo news, Director Katherine C. Doyle sold 8,954 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, September 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $27.30, for a total value of $244,444.20. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 6,009 shares in the company, valued at approximately $164,045.70. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, EVP Svend Andersen sold 28,300 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $27.75, for a total transaction of $785,325.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 73,553 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,041,095.75. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 50,254 shares of company stock worth $1,411,969. 0.70% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Perrigo

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Diamond Hill Capital Management Inc. grew its stake in shares of Perrigo by 83.2% in the 2nd quarter. Diamond Hill Capital Management Inc. now owns 1,940,067 shares of the company’s stock valued at $49,821,000 after buying an additional 881,191 shares during the period. AQR Capital Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Perrigo by 675.5% during the 2nd quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 970,637 shares of the company’s stock worth $24,926,000 after acquiring an additional 845,470 shares during the period. National Bank of Canada FI purchased a new position in shares of Perrigo in the first quarter worth about $19,040,000. Public Employees Retirement Association of Colorado raised its holdings in Perrigo by 3,796.5% during the 4th quarter. Public Employees Retirement Association of Colorado now owns 582,216 shares of the company’s stock valued at $18,736,000 after acquiring an additional 567,274 shares during the period. Finally, Perpetual Ltd boosted its stake in Perrigo by 20.5% in the 1st quarter. Perpetual Ltd now owns 2,780,984 shares of the company’s stock worth $87,490,000 after purchasing an additional 472,245 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 95.91% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have recently commented on the stock. Piper Sandler lowered their price target on shares of Perrigo from $36.00 to $35.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, July 11th. Jefferies Financial Group reissued a “hold” rating and set a $30.00 target price (down from $50.00) on shares of Perrigo in a research report on Monday, September 23rd. Finally, StockNews.com lowered shares of Perrigo from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, September 24th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $37.00.

Perrigo Trading Up 0.1 %

Shares of NYSE:PRGO opened at $25.65 on Monday. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $27.78 and its 200 day simple moving average is $28.65. The company has a quick ratio of 1.24, a current ratio of 1.99 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.80. The firm has a market cap of $3.50 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -366.43 and a beta of 0.49. Perrigo has a 12 month low of $24.82 and a 12 month high of $34.60.

Perrigo (NYSE:PRGO) last posted its earnings results on Friday, August 2nd. The company reported $0.53 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.46 by $0.07. The business had revenue of $1.07 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.13 billion. Perrigo had a positive return on equity of 6.79% and a negative net margin of 2.81%. The firm’s revenue was down 10.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.63 EPS. As a group, research analysts forecast that Perrigo will post 2.57 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Perrigo Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, September 17th. Investors of record on Friday, August 30th were given a dividend of $0.276 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, August 30th. This represents a $1.10 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.30%. Perrigo’s dividend payout ratio is currently -1,571.43%.

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.