Investors Buy Large Volume of Herbalife Call Options (NYSE:HLF)

Herbalife Ltd. (NYSE:HLF) was the recipient of unusually large options trading activity on Thursday. Stock traders bought 17,980 call options on the company. This is an increase of 480% compared to the typical volume of 3,098 call options.

Herbalife Trading Up 38.6 %

HLF traded up $2.17 during trading on Thursday, reaching $7.79. 10,849,216 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,353,537. Herbalife has a one year low of $5.04 and a one year high of $12.79. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $6.26 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $7.23. The stock has a market capitalization of $785.15 million, a PE ratio of 9.11, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.21 and a beta of 1.15.

Herbalife (NYSE:HLF) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 19th. The company reported $0.36 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.08 by $0.28. The company had revenue of $1.21 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.19 billion. Herbalife had a net margin of 1.73% and a negative return on equity of 18.66%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Herbalife

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in HLF. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership increased its position in Herbalife by 777.0% during the 4th quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 2,987,490 shares of the company’s stock valued at $19,986,000 after purchasing an additional 2,646,848 shares during the period. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. increased its position in shares of Herbalife by 67.0% during the fourth quarter. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. now owns 2,570,226 shares of the company’s stock worth $17,195,000 after buying an additional 1,031,078 shares during the period. Long Focus Capital Management LLC increased its position in shares of Herbalife by 27.3% during the fourth quarter. Long Focus Capital Management LLC now owns 4,758,127 shares of the company’s stock worth $31,832,000 after buying an additional 1,020,127 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in Herbalife by 7.5% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 11,271,417 shares of the company’s stock worth $75,406,000 after buying an additional 785,574 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Iridian Asset Management LLC CT lifted its holdings in Herbalife by 43.7% in the third quarter. Iridian Asset Management LLC CT now owns 2,228,193 shares of the company’s stock valued at $16,021,000 after buying an additional 677,739 shares during the period.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have recently weighed in on HLF. B. Riley dropped their price objective on shares of Herbalife from $17.00 to $12.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. StockNews.com upgraded Herbalife from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, November 4th. Citigroup reduced their price target on shares of Herbalife from $16.00 to $13.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, October 25th. DA Davidson cut their target price on shares of Herbalife from $13.00 to $7.50 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. Finally, Mizuho upped their price target on shares of Herbalife from $8.00 to $9.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Herbalife presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $9.90.

About Herbalife

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.