Perrigo (NYSE:PRGO) Downgraded by Wall Street Zen to Hold

Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of Perrigo (NYSE:PRGO) from a buy rating to a hold rating in a research note issued to investors on Saturday.

A number of other equities research analysts have also recently weighed in on the company. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “sell (d)” rating on shares of Perrigo in a report on Wednesday, October 8th. Canaccord Genuity Group lowered their target price on Perrigo from $42.00 to $40.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, August 7th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered 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. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, two have assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Perrigo presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $34.00.

Perrigo Trading Up 0.5%

PRGO stock opened at $21.65 on Friday. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $22.38 and a 200 day moving average price of $24.97. Perrigo has a fifty-two week low of $20.51 and a fifty-two week high of $30.93. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.98 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -37.32 and a beta of 0.43. 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 (NYSE:PRGO) last released its quarterly 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 negative net margin of 1.86% and a positive return on equity of 9.09%. The business had revenue of $1.06 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.08 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $0.53 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down .9% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts expect that Perrigo will post 2.56 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Perrigo Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, September 16th. Shareholders of record on Friday, August 29th were paid a $0.29 dividend. This represents a $1.16 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 5.4%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, August 29th. Perrigo’s payout ratio is presently -200.00%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CFO Eduardo Guarita Bezerra bought 3,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 18th. The shares were acquired at an average price of $22.74 per share, for a total transaction of $68,220.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the chief financial officer owned 48,949 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,113,100.26. The trade was a 6.53% increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director Geoffrey M. Parker bought 4,375 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 18th. The shares were bought at an average price of $22.97 per share, for a total transaction of $100,493.75. Following the acquisition, the director directly owned 33,287 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $764,602.39. This represents a 15.13% increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Insiders bought a total of 10,118 shares of company stock valued at $232,699 in the last three months. Insiders own 0.70% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Perrigo

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD increased its stake in Perrigo by 41.1% during the 1st quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 11,073,026 shares of the company’s stock worth $310,488,000 after acquiring an additional 3,227,487 shares during the period. Millennium Management LLC raised its position in shares of Perrigo by 5,198.0% in the 1st quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 2,052,599 shares of the company’s stock worth $57,555,000 after acquiring an additional 2,013,856 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of Perrigo during the second quarter valued at approximately $36,755,000. Perpetual Ltd increased its holdings in shares of Perrigo by 64.2% during the third quarter. Perpetual Ltd now owns 3,149,878 shares of the company’s stock valued at $70,148,000 after acquiring an additional 1,231,400 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Ion Asset Management Ltd. boosted its position in shares of Perrigo by 34.7% during the second quarter. Ion Asset Management Ltd. now owns 3,817,621 shares of the company’s stock valued at $102,007,000 after buying an additional 983,727 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 95.91% of the company’s stock.

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.