JPMorgan Chase & Co. Grows Stake in Perrigo Company plc (NYSE:PRGO)

JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised its position in shares of Perrigo Company plc (NYSE:PRGO) by 65.1% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 541,000 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 213,221 shares during the period. JPMorgan Chase & Co.’s holdings in Perrigo were worth $14,190,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Arizona State Retirement System boosted its stake in shares of Perrigo by 1.9% during the second quarter. Arizona State Retirement System now owns 37,939 shares of the company’s stock valued at $974,000 after purchasing an additional 699 shares in the last quarter. Texas Permanent School Fund Corp lifted its holdings in 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 buying an additional 1,357 shares during the period. American Century Companies Inc. boosted its position in Perrigo by 13.7% during the 2nd quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 24,334 shares of the company’s stock valued at $625,000 after acquiring an additional 2,929 shares in the last quarter. Diamond Hill Capital Management Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Perrigo by 83.2% in the 2nd quarter. Diamond Hill Capital Management Inc. now owns 1,940,067 shares of the company’s stock valued at $49,821,000 after acquiring an additional 881,191 shares during the period. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its position in shares of Perrigo by 3.6% in the 2nd 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 in the last quarter. 95.91% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

PRGO has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Piper Sandler downgraded Perrigo from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and dropped their price objective for the company from $34.00 to $27.00 in a research report on Monday, January 6th. Canaccord Genuity Group reissued a “buy” rating and set a $42.00 price target on shares of Perrigo in a research report on Monday, September 30th. Jefferies Financial Group reaffirmed a “hold” rating and issued a $30.00 price objective (down previously from $50.00) on shares of Perrigo in a research report on Monday, September 23rd. Finally, StockNews.com lowered shares of Perrigo from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $35.00.

Insider Activity

In other Perrigo news, Director Jeffrey B. Kindler sold 17,598 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $28.27, for a total transaction of $497,495.46. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 5,409 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $152,912.43. This trade represents a 76.49 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Corporate insiders own 0.70% of the company’s stock.

Perrigo Trading Down 2.6 %

Perrigo stock opened at $24.41 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.94, a quick ratio of 1.77 and a current ratio of 2.56. The stock has a market cap of $3.33 billion, a PE ratio of -20.86 and a beta of 0.53. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $26.74 and a two-hundred day moving average of $26.80. Perrigo Company plc has a one year low of $23.89 and a one year high of $33.96.

Perrigo (NYSE:PRGO) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, November 6th. The company reported $0.81 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $0.81. The firm had revenue of $1.09 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.12 billion. Perrigo had a negative net margin of 3.64% and a positive return on equity of 7.38%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 3.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $0.64 earnings per share. On average, research analysts anticipate that Perrigo Company plc 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 paid a dividend of $0.276 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, November 29th. This represents a $1.10 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.52%. Perrigo’s payout ratio is currently -94.02%.

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.