Needham & Company LLC Reaffirms “Hold” Rating for Bausch + Lomb (NYSE:BLCO)

Bausch + Lomb (NYSE:BLCO)‘s stock had its “hold” rating reaffirmed by research analysts at Needham & Company LLC in a research note issued on Thursday, Benzinga reports.

Several other research firms have also recently weighed in on BLCO. Stifel Nicolaus upped their price target on shares of Bausch + Lomb from $16.00 to $19.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, September 23rd. Evercore upped their target price on shares of Bausch + Lomb from $15.50 to $17.00 and gave the stock an “in-line” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 1st. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft increased their target price on Bausch + Lomb from $14.00 to $18.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, August 1st. Royal Bank of Canada upped their price objective on Bausch + Lomb from $20.00 to $23.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 22nd. Finally, Raymond James assumed coverage on Bausch + Lomb in a research report on Wednesday, July 10th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $19.00 target price on the stock. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $20.36.

Bausch + Lomb Stock Performance

BLCO stock opened at $20.44 on Thursday. Bausch + Lomb has a 1-year low of $13.16 and a 1-year high of $21.69. The company has a current ratio of 1.65, a quick ratio of 1.01 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.70. The firm has a market cap of $7.20 billion, a PE ratio of -15.72, a P/E/G ratio of 1.76 and a beta of 0.48. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $18.44 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $16.38.

Bausch + Lomb (NYSE:BLCO) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 31st. The company reported $0.13 earnings per share for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $0.13. Bausch + Lomb had a positive return on equity of 3.36% and a negative net margin of 10.15%. The business had revenue of $1.22 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.17 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $0.18 EPS. Bausch + Lomb’s revenue for the quarter was up 17.5% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts forecast that Bausch + Lomb will post 0.6 earnings per share for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CEO Brent L. Saunders purchased 32,250 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, August 5th. The shares were purchased at an average price of $15.66 per share, with a total value of $505,035.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 595,169 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $9,320,346.54. This trade represents a 0.00 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Insiders own 0.15% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Blue Trust Inc. increased its position in shares of Bausch + Lomb by 14,052.2% during the 2nd quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 3,255 shares of the company’s stock worth $47,000 after purchasing an additional 3,232 shares during the last quarter. Squarepoint Ops LLC acquired a new position in shares of Bausch + Lomb during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $173,000. Fore Capital LLC acquired a new position in shares of Bausch + Lomb during the 1st quarter worth approximately $384,000. Renaissance Capital LLC increased its holdings in shares of Bausch + Lomb by 57.2% during the 2nd quarter. Renaissance Capital LLC now owns 36,286 shares of the company’s stock worth $527,000 after acquiring an additional 13,210 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Cubist Systematic Strategies LLC acquired a new position in shares of Bausch + Lomb during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $580,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 11.07% of the company’s stock.

Bausch + Lomb Company Profile

Bausch + Lomb Corporation operates as an eye health company in the United States, Puerto Rico, China, France, Japan, Germany, the United Kingdom, Canada, Russia, Spain, Italy, Mexico, Poland, South Korea, and internationally. It operates in three segments: Vision Care, Pharmaceuticals, and Surgical. The Vision Care segment provides contact lens that covers the spectrum of wearing modalities, including daily disposable and frequently replaced contact lenses; and contact lens care products comprising over-the-counter eye drops, eye vitamins, and mineral supplements that address various conditions, such as eye allergies, conjunctivitis, dry eye, and redness relief.