Cooke & Bieler LP Buys 139,650 Shares of Perrigo Company plc (NYSE:PRGO)

Cooke & Bieler LP increased its stake in Perrigo Company plc (NYSE:PRGO) by 4.1% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 3,573,651 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 139,650 shares during the period. Cooke & Bieler LP’s holdings in Perrigo were worth $91,879,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of PRGO. Versant Capital Management Inc bought a new position in Perrigo in the fourth quarter valued at about $45,000. GAMMA Investing LLC grew its position in Perrigo by 93.7% in the fourth quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,920 shares of the company’s stock valued at $49,000 after acquiring an additional 929 shares during the last quarter. Central Pacific Bank Trust Division grew its position in Perrigo by 33.3% in the fourth quarter. Central Pacific Bank Trust Division now owns 2,000 shares of the company’s stock valued at $51,000 after acquiring an additional 500 shares during the last quarter. Venturi Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in Perrigo in the third quarter valued at about $56,000. Finally, KBC Group NV grew its position in Perrigo by 25.1% in the third quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 4,517 shares of the company’s stock valued at $118,000 after acquiring an additional 905 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 95.91% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

PRGO has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. StockNews.com cut Perrigo from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 19th. Argus lowered Perrigo from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 14th. Finally, Piper Sandler lowered Perrigo from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and cut their price target for the company from $34.00 to $27.00 in a research note on Monday, January 6th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and one has issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Perrigo has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $33.00.

Perrigo Stock Performance

Shares of PRGO stock opened at $27.48 on Tuesday. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $25.30 and its 200-day moving average price is $26.22. Perrigo Company plc has a 12 month low of $23.14 and a 12 month high of $33.46. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.75 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -23.49 and a beta of 0.48. The company has a current ratio of 2.56, a quick ratio of 1.77 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.94.

Perrigo (NYSE:PRGO) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 27th. The company reported $0.93 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.92 by $0.01. The company had revenue of $1.14 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.20 billion. Perrigo had a positive return on equity of 7.38% and a negative net margin of 3.64%. Equities research analysts forecast that Perrigo Company plc will post 2.56 EPS for the current year.

Perrigo Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, March 25th. Investors of record on Friday, March 7th will be paid a $0.29 dividend. This is a positive change from Perrigo’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.28. This represents a $1.16 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.22%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 7th. Perrigo’s payout ratio is currently -92.80%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Perrigo news, EVP Ronald Craig Janish sold 7,800 shares of Perrigo stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $27.44, for a total value of $214,032.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 33,666 shares in the company, valued at approximately $923,795.04. The trade was a 18.81 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. 0.70% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Perrigo Profile

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.