B. Riley Securities began coverage with a “buy” rating
The shares of Herbalife Nutrition Ltd (NYSE: HLF) are up 2.5% to last at $ 54.90 after B. Riley Securities began coverage with a “Buy” rating and a target price of $ 70. The company named the company a leader in weight loss supplements and noted its increasing presence in exercise and fitness.
HLF has been struggling to break above $ 55.50 since early June and then suffered a multi-week pullback. However, the 40-day moving average has proven to be stable support, leading the stock to its now 13% year-to-date gain.
With today’s new release, B. Riley Securities joins minimal but bullish coverage, with the one analyst already in coverage showing a “strong buy”. Meanwhile, the 5.91 million stocks sold short account for 5.7% of the stock’s available free float, or nearly seven days of pent-up purchasing power.
Options bulls also target HLF, as evidenced by the security’s 50-day call / put volume ratio of 9.10 on the International Securities Exchange (ISE), the Cboe Options Exchange (CBOE), and the NASDAQ OMX PHLX (PHLX). This ratio is higher than any other value in the past year, which means that the calls in the past 12 months have far outperformed the puts.
After all, the Schaeffer’s Volatility Index (SVI) of the share is 28% higher than just 11% of all other values in its annual range. This implies that option players are currently pricing in relatively low volatility expectations.
