Myles Udland at BusinessInsider.com Reports:
Post Holdings executive chairman Bill Stiritz has added to his stake in Herbalife.
Stiritz, who is Herbalife’s biggest individual shareholder, has added to his 8.2% position in Herbalife during the stock’s recent pullback, according to a report from CNBC’s Scott Wapner.
Wapner, citing sources, also reported that Stiritz had not sold a share of his stake in the company.
Earlier this month, Business Insider’s Julia La Roche reported that Stiritz had most likely suffered paper losses upward of $200 million on his position in the multilevel marketing company, which fell about 50% during 2014.
Stiritz is on the same side of the Herbalife trade as noted activist investor Carl Icahn, who is the company’s largest shareholder. Hedge fund manager Bill Ackman is well known for being short shares of Herbalife, and in a December 2012 presentation, Ackman called the company a pyramid scheme.
The FTC opened an investigation into Herbalife in March.
In September 2013, when Stiritz first initiated his position in Herbalife, the stock was trading just below $60 per share. On Friday, shares of Herbalife were just below $32.
Following Wapner’s report, shares of Herbalife, which had been lower Friday, were up as much as 3%.
Tag Archive for Herbalife
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Big Plans For Herbalife: Opening $100 Million Plant And Planned Counter Attack Against Ackman
by Tina Williams • • 0 Comments
ValueWalk reported:
Fox Business Network’s (FBN) Charles Gasparino reports Herbalife Ltd. (NYSE:HLF) is planning a counter attack on Pershing Square Capital CEO Bill Ackman, following the cancellation of a meeting with Herbalife by Ackman. Gasparino reports, “people inside Herbalife are telling me that it could be legal,” possibly “a lawsuit about stock manipulation.”
On Herbalife planning a counter attack against Bill Ackman:
“They are planning some sort of counter attack. People inside Herbalife are telling me that it could be legal, clearly like a lawsuit about stock manipulation or something else. What they are saying is they are clearly going to do an attack.”
In other news:
Herbalife Ltd. will officially unveil its $100 million manufacturing facility in Winston-Salem on Jan. 16, showing off the plant to the media and local elected officials.
The nutrition products company (NYSE: HLF) will hold an invitation-only grand opening of its 800,000-square-foot “Winston-Salem Manufacturing and Innovation Facility.” Herbalife COO Rich Goudis, will attend, and Winston-Salem Mayor Allen Joines and Forsyth County Board of Commissioners Chairman David Plyler are expected to be there, too.
Herbalife officials said the facility currently employs about 350 and is expected to employ more than 500 by the end of the year.
The plant at 3200 Temple School Road is located at the former site of Dell Inc. Local
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Herbalife Hits new 52 Week Low
by Tina Williams • • 0 Comments
Herbalife (NYSE:HLF)’s share price reached a new 52-week low during mid-day trading on Monday , Analyst Ratings News reports. The stock traded as low as $35.10 and last traded at $35.12, with a volume of 908,464 shares trading hands. The stock had previously closed at $37.58.
HLF has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Analysts at Buckingham Research downgraded shares of Herbalife from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday. Separately, analysts at Barclays cut their price target on shares of Herbalife from $80.00 to $74.00 in a research note on Friday, November 21st. They now have an “overweight” rating on the stock. Finally, analysts at BTIG Research initiated coverage on shares of Herbalife in a research note on Wednesday, November 19th.
They set a “buy” rating and a $55.00 price target on the stock. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company. Herbalife has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $64.30.
The stock’s 50-day moving average is $39.7 and its 200-day moving average is $49.23. The company has a market
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Demand For Herbalife Product Grows Despite Naysayers
by Tina Williams • • 0 Comments
Bidnessetc.com conducted a survey and the results are promising. They explain below:
Herbalife Ltd. (NYSE:HLF) stock has dropped 51.18% year-to-date (YTD), due to weaker-than-expected financial results for its past two quarters and rising concerns of the company running a pyramid scheme.
To get some insight into the demand for Herbalife’s products and the company’s business model, Bidness Etc conducted a survey of Herbalife’s distributors.
The results of our survey support the argument that real demand for Herbalife’s products exists, distributors remain largely satisfied with the company, international regions like South Africa remain strong drivers of growth for the company, and company sales are continuing to grow in both developed and developing markets.
The survey was conducted from December 16 — December 19, on 26 Herbalife distributors from the US and 25 distributors from international markets, including China, South Africa, Germany, the Middle East, and India.
After analyzing the survey results, we have shortlisted seven eminent themes for Herbalife Ltd., which are as follows:
Strong Growth In Demand For Products
According to most respondents, from both US and international markets, sales for Herbalife products are growing at a high rate. 92% of the US respondents said their sales of Herbalife products have increased compared to last month, while 96% of international respondents stated the same.
Distributor Janet Gayle from
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Herbalife Receives “Product Of The Year” Award
by Tina Williams • • 0 Comments
Global nutrition company Herbalife (NYSE: HLF) was honored with the “Product of the Year” award for its Formula 1 Nutritional shake in the category of “Efficient Weight Management Nutrition” at a recent ceremony in Moscow, Russia.
The national Product of the Year Awards, sponsored by the Russian Chamber of Commerce and the Moscow International Business Association (MIBA), are in their sixteenth year and recognize the most popular consumer goods products in Russia. They bring together the largest Russian and international manufacturers, retailers and banks, and awards are presented in 50 categories as chosen by consumers.
Herbalife’s weight-management, nutrition and personal care products help support healthy lifestyles in more than 90 countries.
Herbalife International is an American multi-level marketing company that develops, markets and sells nutrition, weight management and skin-care products globally. The company was founded in 1980, and it employs around 7,400 people worldwide. Herbalife reported net sales of US$4.072 billion in 2012, an 18% increase over 2011, and net income of $477.19 million, a 16% increase over 2011. It incorporated in the Cayman Islands, and its corporate headquarters is in Los Angeles, California, United States.
The company distributes its products in 91 countries (as of November 2013) through a network of approximately 3.2 million independent distributors, some of whom earn profit on product sales and additional commission from
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2 Year Anniversary Of $1 Billion Bet Against Herbalife: $97.4 Million Spent On Case
by Tina Williams • • 0 Comments
It’s been two years since Bill Ackman launched the billion-dollar short bet heard ’round the world.
On Dec. 20, 2012, the founder of Pershing Square Capital Management LP announced his bet against the nutritional supplement company Herbalife Ltd. in a three-hour-plus PowerPoint presentation that spanned 334 slides. He called the company a “pyramid scheme” and said it has caused “enormous harm” to “vulnerable communities around the world.”
As of Thursday’s close, Herbalife’s stock was down about 11% from where it closed on Dec. 18, 2012 (word that Mr. Ackman was betting against Herbalife leaked the day before the presentation, causing the stock to drop). That change masks two years of massive volatility in the stock, millions spent by Mr. Ackman spelling out his case and millions spent by Herbalife defending its business model.
In the meantime, some of the world’s best-known money managers have piled into the stock, taking the other side of Mr. Ackman’s bet. Feuds between Mr. Ackman and some of his nemeses have been thrown into the public spotlight and at least one feud has morphed into perhaps a friendship.
Here’s a look back at Mr. Ackman’s Herbalife bet by the numbers:
Mr. Ackman’s short position in Herbalife: $1 billion
What Mr. Ackman has spent making his case that the
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SEC Files To Drop Insider-Trading Case On Herbalife
by Tina Williams • • 0 Comments
The Wall Street Journal just reported:
The Securities and Exchange Commission on Monday filed to dismiss insider-trading charges against a man accused of profiting from privileged information tied to Herbalife Ltd.
The SEC had charged Jordan Peixoto, of Toronto, of buying Herbalife options after hearing William Ackman ’s Pershing Square Capital Management LP was planning to make a negative public presentation about the nutritional supplements maker. Mr. Peixoto ultimately ? made $47,100 in profits.
The SEC said it is dismissing the charges because the two men who developed the information and passed it on to Mr. Peixoto aren’t available to testify at the trial, which had been set for March.
According to the agency, Mr. Peixoto was tipped off about Mr. Ackman’s planned comments by Filip Szymik, who learned the information from his roommate and longtime friend Mariusz Adamski, then an analyst with Mr. Ackman’s Pershing Square.
The two men, who were roommates in New York City at the time of the event, have since returned to their native Poland and have indicated they intend to assert their Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination if compelled to testify.
Herbalife’s stock dropped 39% in the days following Mr. Ackman’s announcement.
Mr. Szymik, who didn’t trade in Herbalife securities, agreed to a $47,100 civil penalty
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Ackman Going After Herbalife… Again
by Tina Williams • • 0 Comments
Herbalife Ltd. (NYSE:HLF) is back in the spotlight yet again, thanks to Bill Ackman’s firm, Pershing Square Capital Management. This month marks two years since the activist investor publicly announced his short of the nutritional supplements company.
Now his firm accuses Herbalife distributors of “routinely making false, dangerous and illegal medical claims to potential customers.
Pershing Square issued a press release making these new allegations this morning. The firm also posted a video about it on its anti-Herbalife website. The video allegedly shows some distributors of Herbalife’s products violating regulations set forth by the Food and Drug Administration and also an injunction issued in California in 1986. That injunction demanded that Herbalife and its distributors stop making the illegal medical claims immediately.
The firm’s representatives reviewed publicly available video that shows Herbalife Ltd. (NYSE:HLF) executives making medical claims about the company’s products as well for more than 30 years. Pershing Square said the multi-level marketing company can’t deny knowing about this practice because high level executives like CEO Michael Johnson also made allegedly misleading statements.
Distributors name several medical benefits
In the video compiled by Pershing Square, distributors name a number of medical issues that Herbalife Ltd. (NYSE:HLF) products can supposedly help with and in some cases possibly
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Herbalife Wins Court Approval For Class-Action Lawsuit
by Tina Williams • • 0 Comments
Herbalife Ltd won preliminary court approval of its $15 million settlement of class-action litigation accusing the maker of weight loss and nutritional products of being a “pyramid scheme” that misleads distributors about how much money they can make.
In a decision dated Tuesday, U.S. District Judge Beverly Reid O’Connell in Los Angeles called the accord “fair, reasonable, and adequate,” a standard often used to assess class-action settlements.
The accord also requires Herbalife to provide up to $2.5 million to distributors who return unused products.
In addition, Herbalife agreed to change some corporate policies, including over how it defines distributors and handles shipping charges on returned products, for at least three years.
The Los Angeles-based company did not admit wrongdoing. O’Connell scheduled a May 11, 2015 hearing to consider final approval of the accord. About $5.25 million of the settlement funds could go toward attorney’s fees.
Herbalife has long been under attack by short-sellers like billionaire hedge fund manager William Ackman, who has accused it of inflating results that depend more on its ability to recruit new distributors than its ability to sell products.
Authorities such as the FBI, the U.S. Federal Trade Commission, and some state attorneys general have also been probing Herbalife’s activities.
Herbalife has denied being
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Herbalife Chairman And CEO Increases His Personal Share Holding In The Company
by Tina Williams • • 0 Comments
Global nutrition company, Herbalife (NYSE: HLF), today announced that Michael Johnson, Herbalife’s chairman and CEO, has engaged in a net exercise transaction involving 750,000 stock options that were granted to him in December 2004 and were due to expire in December 2014.
Because of his complete confidence in the continued and future success of the company, Mr. Johnson has decided that he will hold all the shares issued on exercise of the option, which will be the total amount, net of those necessary to cover the exercise price and any taxes related to the transaction.
About Herbalife Ltd.
Herbalife is a global nutrition company that has been changing people’s lives with great products since 1980. Our nutrition, weight-management, energy and sports and personal care products are available exclusively to and through dedicated Independent Herbalife Members in more than 90 countries.
We are committed to fighting the worldwide problems of poor nutrition and excess weight by offering high-quality products, one-on-one coaching with an Herbalife Member and a community that inspires customers to live a healthy, active life.
We support the Herbalife Family Foundation (HFF) and its Casa Herbalife Program to help bring good nutrition to children in need. We also sponsor more than 250 world-class athletes, teams and events around the globe, including Cristiano Ronaldo, the LA Galaxy and champions in many other sports.
The