Royce & Associates LP Takes $355,000 Position in Helen of Troy Limited (NASDAQ:HELE)

Royce & Associates LP bought a new stake in shares of Helen of Troy Limited (NASDAQ:HELE) in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor bought 5,940 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $355,000.

Other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio raised its position in Helen of Troy by 30.3% during the third quarter. Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio now owns 783 shares of the company’s stock valued at $48,000 after buying an additional 182 shares during the period. GAMMA Investing LLC raised its position in Helen of Troy by 96.0% during the fourth quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 484 shares of the company’s stock valued at $29,000 after buying an additional 237 shares during the period. Swiss National Bank raised its position in Helen of Troy by 0.9% during the fourth quarter. Swiss National Bank now owns 45,000 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,692,000 after buying an additional 400 shares during the period. Amundi raised its position in Helen of Troy by 40.9% during the fourth quarter. Amundi now owns 1,651 shares of the company’s stock valued at $97,000 after buying an additional 479 shares during the period. Finally, Anchor Capital Advisors LLC raised its position in Helen of Troy by 4.8% during the fourth quarter. Anchor Capital Advisors LLC now owns 11,209 shares of the company’s stock valued at $671,000 after buying an additional 511 shares during the period.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms recently weighed in on HELE. UBS Group dropped their price target on 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. StockNews.com raised Helen of Troy from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 12th. Finally, DA Davidson upped their target price on Helen of Troy from $71.00 to $78.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, November 25th.

Helen of Troy Stock Performance

Shares of HELE stock opened at $52.85 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.45, a current ratio of 1.92 and a quick ratio of 1.05. Helen of Troy Limited has a fifty-two week low of $48.05 and a fifty-two week high of $116.13. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $58.25 and its two-hundred day moving average is $62.01. The firm has a market cap of $1.21 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.66, a PEG ratio of 1.80 and a beta of 0.90.

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

Helen of Troy Company Profile

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.