Perrigo Sees Unusually Large Options Volume (NYSE:PRGO)

Perrigo Company plc (NYSE:PRGO - Get Free Report) was the target of some unusual options trading on Tuesday. Traders acquired 11,385 call options on the company. This represents an increase of approximately 850% compared to the average volume of 1,198 call options.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

PRGO has been the topic of several analyst reports. StockNews.com lowered Perrigo from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Saturday. Argus lowered Perrigo from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Tuesday. Piper Sandler lowered Perrigo from an "overweight" rating to a "neutral" rating and reduced their price objective for the company from $34.00 to $27.00 in a research note on Monday, January 6th. Jefferies Financial Group reaffirmed a "hold" rating and issued a $30.00 price objective (down from $50.00) on shares of Perrigo in a research note on Monday, September 23rd. Finally, Canaccord Genuity Group reaffirmed a "buy" rating and issued a $42.00 price objective on shares of Perrigo in a research note on Monday, September 30th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $35.00.

Perrigo Trading Down 3.2 %

Shares of PRGO stock traded down $0.77 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, reaching $23.57. 1,794,254 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,585,242. The stock's fifty day simple moving average is $26.71 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $26.80. Perrigo has a 1-year low of $23.14 and a 1-year high of $33.96. The company has a market cap of $3.22 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -20.15 and a beta of 0.53. The company has a quick ratio of 1.77, a current ratio of 2.56 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.94.

Perrigo (NYSE:PRGO - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, November 6th. The company reported $0.81 EPS for the quarter, meeting analysts' consensus estimates of $0.81. Perrigo had a positive return on equity of 7.38% and a negative net margin of 3.64%. The firm had revenue of $1.09 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.12 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.64 earnings per share. The business's revenue for the quarter was down 3.2% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts anticipate that Perrigo will post 2.56 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Perrigo Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, December 17th. Stockholders of record on Friday, November 29th were given a dividend of $0.276 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, November 29th. This represents a $1.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.68%. Perrigo's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is -94.02%.

Insider Activity at Perrigo

In other news, Director Jeffrey B. Kindler sold 17,598 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, December 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $28.27, for a total transaction of $497,495.46. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 5,409 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $152,912.43. This represents a 76.49 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. 0.70% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Perrigo

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in PRGO. Texas Permanent School Fund Corp raised its position in shares of Perrigo by 1.2% during the second quarter. Texas Permanent School Fund Corp now owns 119,298 shares of the company's stock worth $3,064,000 after acquiring an additional 1,357 shares during the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. raised its position in shares of Perrigo by 13.7% during the second quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 24,334 shares of the company's stock worth $625,000 after acquiring an additional 2,929 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised 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 acquiring an additional 249,640 shares during the last quarter. Meiji Yasuda Asset Management Co Ltd. raised its position in shares of Perrigo by 4.2% during the second quarter. Meiji Yasuda Asset Management Co Ltd. now owns 301,570 shares of the company's stock worth $7,744,000 after acquiring an additional 12,254 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Amalgamated Bank raised its position in shares of Perrigo by 3.3% during the second quarter. Amalgamated Bank now owns 85,350 shares of the company's stock worth $2,192,000 after acquiring an additional 2,752 shares during the last quarter. 95.91% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.