Helen of Troy (NASDAQ:HELE) Posts Quarterly Earnings Results, Beats Estimates By $0.16 EPS

Helen of Troy (NASDAQ:HELE) issued its earnings results on Wednesday. The company reported $1.21 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.05 by $0.16, Briefing.com reports. Helen of Troy had a return on equity of 9.31% and a net margin of 7.35%. The company had revenue of $474.20 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $458.85 million. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $1.45 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 3.5% on a year-over-year basis.

Helen of Troy Price Performance

HELE stock traded down $0.59 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $71.77. The stock had a trading volume of 217,307 shares, compared to its average volume of 447,083. Helen of Troy has a 52-week low of $48.05 and a 52-week high of $127.83. The company has a current ratio of 1.77, a quick ratio of 0.99 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.51. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $56.55 and its 200 day simple moving average is $80.60. The company has a market cap of $1.64 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.10, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.45 and a beta of 0.86.

Helen of Troy declared that its board has approved a stock buyback plan on Thursday, September 5th that permits the company to repurchase $500.00 million in shares. This repurchase authorization permits the company to purchase up to 39.8% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are generally an indication that the company’s board believes its shares are undervalued.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts have recently issued reports on HELE shares. DA Davidson raised their price objective on Helen of Troy from $67.00 to $71.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday. UBS Group cut their price target on Helen of Troy from $100.00 to $72.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, July 10th. StockNews.com lowered Helen of Troy from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 10th. Finally, Canaccord Genuity Group reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $84.00 price target on shares of Helen of Troy in a research note on Monday.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in HELE. Entropy Technologies LP acquired a new position in Helen of Troy during the first quarter worth $239,000. Bessemer Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of Helen of Troy by 153.7% during the 1st quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. now owns 576 shares of the company’s stock valued at $67,000 after acquiring an additional 349 shares during the last quarter. Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Helen of Troy by 1.8% in the first quarter. Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. now owns 11,271 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,299,000 after purchasing an additional 198 shares during the period. BNP Paribas Financial Markets lifted its position in Helen of Troy by 42.0% in the first quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 14,982 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,727,000 after buying an additional 4,431 shares during the last quarter. Finally, QRG Capital Management Inc. purchased a new position in Helen of Troy during the second quarter worth about $289,000.

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.