Perrigo (NYSE:PRGO) Stock Rating Lowered by StockNews.com

StockNews.com cut shares of Perrigo (NYSE:PRGO) from a buy rating to a hold rating in a research report sent to investors on Tuesday morning.

Several other brokerages also recently commented on PRGO. Piper Sandler dropped their price objective on shares of Perrigo from $36.00 to $35.00 and set an overweight rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, July 11th. Jefferies Financial Group reiterated a hold rating and set a $30.00 price target (down from $50.00) on shares of Perrigo in a report on Monday, September 23rd. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Perrigo presently has an average rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus target price of $37.00.

Perrigo Price Performance

Perrigo stock opened at $25.65 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.80, a quick ratio of 1.24 and a current ratio of 1.99. Perrigo has a 52 week low of $24.82 and a 52 week high of $34.60. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.50 billion, a P/E ratio of -366.36 and a beta of 0.49. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $27.78 and a 200-day moving average of $28.68.

Perrigo (NYSE:PRGO) last issued its earnings results on Friday, August 2nd. The company reported $0.53 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.46 by $0.07. The firm had revenue of $1.07 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.13 billion. Perrigo had a positive return on equity of 6.79% and a negative net margin of 2.81%. The business’s quarterly revenue was down 10.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $0.63 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Perrigo will post 2.57 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Perrigo Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, September 17th. Investors of record on Friday, August 30th were issued a $0.276 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, August 30th. This represents a $1.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.30%. Perrigo’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently -1,571.43%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Katherine C. Doyle sold 8,954 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, September 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $27.30, for a total transaction of $244,444.20. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 6,009 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $164,045.70. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. In related news, Director Katherine C. Doyle sold 8,954 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, September 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $27.30, for a total value of $244,444.20. Following the sale, the director now owns 6,009 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $164,045.70. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, EVP Ronald Craig Janish sold 13,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, August 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $29.40, for a total value of $382,200.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 20,553 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $604,258.20. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 50,254 shares of company stock valued at $1,411,969 in the last ninety days. 0.70% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Perrigo

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in Perrigo by 0.6% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 14,994,309 shares of the company’s stock worth $482,517,000 after purchasing an additional 91,322 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its position in shares of Perrigo by 3.6% during the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 7,162,656 shares of the company’s stock worth $183,935,000 after buying an additional 249,640 shares during the period. Deprince Race & Zollo Inc. increased its position in shares of Perrigo by 11.2% during the second quarter. Deprince Race & Zollo Inc. now owns 3,882,438 shares of the company’s stock worth $99,701,000 after buying an additional 391,646 shares during the period. Cooke & Bieler LP raised its stake in Perrigo by 0.9% during the second quarter. Cooke & Bieler LP now owns 3,501,401 shares of the company’s stock worth $89,916,000 after buying an additional 30,150 shares during the last quarter. Finally, DAVENPORT & Co LLC lifted its holdings in Perrigo by 10.1% in the first quarter. DAVENPORT & Co LLC now owns 3,449,352 shares of the company’s stock valued at $111,035,000 after buying an additional 317,552 shares during the period. 95.91% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.