Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund Buys New Shares in Helen of Troy Limited (NASDAQ:HELE)

Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund purchased a new position in Helen of Troy Limited (NASDAQ:HELE) during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund purchased 12,595 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $754,000. Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund owned about 0.06% of Helen of Troy as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of HELE. Bank of New York Mellon Corp grew its holdings in shares of Helen of Troy by 104.3% in the 4th quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 349,205 shares of the company’s stock worth $20,893,000 after acquiring an additional 178,310 shares during the last quarter. Olympiad Research LP acquired a new position in shares of Helen of Troy in the 4th quarter valued at $434,000. Peregrine Capital Management LLC increased its stake in Helen of Troy by 63.2% in the 4th quarter. Peregrine Capital Management LLC now owns 58,048 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,473,000 after purchasing an additional 22,487 shares in the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. raised its holdings in Helen of Troy by 5.2% during the 4th quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 131,305 shares of the company’s stock worth $7,856,000 after buying an additional 6,471 shares during the period. Finally, Gladstone Institutional Advisory LLC lifted its stake in Helen of Troy by 15.8% during the fourth quarter. Gladstone Institutional Advisory LLC now owns 67,543 shares of the company’s stock valued at $4,041,000 after buying an additional 9,225 shares in the last quarter.

Helen of Troy Price Performance

NASDAQ HELE opened at $53.66 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.45, a current ratio of 1.92 and a quick ratio of 1.05. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.23 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.82, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.80 and a beta of 0.91. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $60.15 and a 200-day simple moving average of $62.06. Helen of Troy Limited has a 52-week low of $48.05 and a 52-week high of $126.26.

Helen of Troy (NASDAQ:HELE) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, January 8th. The company reported $2.67 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.60 by $0.07. Helen of Troy had a net margin of 6.05% and a return on equity of 9.13%. The company had revenue of $530.70 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $532.91 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $2.79 EPS. The company’s revenue was down 3.4% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts predict that Helen of Troy Limited will post 6.46 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have recently weighed in on HELE. StockNews.com raised shares of Helen of Troy from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 12th. UBS Group lowered their price objective on shares of Helen of Troy from $79.00 to $69.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th. Finally, DA Davidson increased their target price on Helen of Troy from $71.00 to $78.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, November 25th.

About Helen of Troy

Helen of Troy Limited provides various consumer products in the United States, Canada, Europe, the Middle East, Africa, the Asia Pacific, and Latin America. The company operates in two segments: Home & Outdoor and Beauty & Wellness. The Home & Outdoor segment offers food storage containers, kitchen utensils for cooking and preparing salads, fruits, vegetables and meats, graters, slicers and choppers, baking essentials, kitchen organization, bath, cleaning, infant and toddler products, and coffee preparation tools and electronics; and insulated beverageware, including bottles, travel tumblers, drinkware, mugs, food and lunch containers, insulated totes, soft coolers, outdoor kitchenware, and accessories.