O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC Makes New $482,000 Investment in Herbalife Ltd. (NYSE:HLF)

O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC bought a new stake in Herbalife Ltd. (NYSE:HLF) in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund bought 72,038 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $482,000.

Other large investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. R Squared Ltd purchased a new position in shares of Herbalife in the fourth quarter valued at $63,000. Van ECK Associates Corp increased its holdings in shares of Herbalife by 110.4% in the 4th quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 10,526 shares of the company’s stock valued at $70,000 after acquiring an additional 5,524 shares during the last quarter. Range Financial Group LLC acquired a new stake in Herbalife during the fourth quarter worth about $124,000. SG Americas Securities LLC increased its position in 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, DGS Capital Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Herbalife by 63.7% during the third quarter. DGS Capital Management LLC now owns 24,454 shares of the company’s stock worth $176,000 after buying an additional 9,513 shares during the period.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

HLF has been the topic of several research reports. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Herbalife from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, March 21st. DA Davidson upgraded Herbalife from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their target price for the company from $7.50 to $14.00 in a research note on Friday, March 21st. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, three have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $12.00.

Herbalife Price Performance

Shares of HLF stock opened at $6.80 on Friday. Herbalife Ltd. has a one year low of $5.04 and a one year high of $12.79. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $7.55 and a 200 day moving average price of $7.29. The stock has a market cap of $688.61 million, a P/E ratio of 2.73, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.29 and a beta of 1.02.

Herbalife (NYSE:HLF) last issued its earnings results 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 business had revenue of $1.21 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.19 billion. Equities research analysts anticipate that Herbalife Ltd. will post 1.57 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Juan Miguel Mendoza bought 5,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 27th. The stock was acquired at an average price of $8.25 per share, for a total transaction of $41,250.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 132,500 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,093,125. This trade represents a 3.92 % increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Corporate insiders own 1.73% of the company’s stock.

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.