Cooper Companies (NASDAQ:COO) Given “Hold” Rating at Needham & Company LLC

Needham & Company LLC reiterated their hold rating on shares of Cooper Companies (NASDAQ:COO) in a report published on Wednesday morning,Benzinga reports.

COO has been the subject of several other reports. Morgan Stanley lifted their price objective on Cooper Companies from $95.00 to $104.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Tuesday, September 10th. Robert W. Baird lifted their price target on Cooper Companies from $118.00 to $125.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 29th. Stifel Nicolaus reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $115.00 price objective (up from $110.00) on shares of Cooper Companies in a research note on Thursday, August 29th. StockNews.com cut shares of Cooper Companies from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 20th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company increased their price target on shares of Cooper Companies from $110.00 to $115.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 29th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Cooper Companies currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $117.00.

Cooper Companies Stock Performance

Shares of COO opened at $104.46 on Wednesday. The company has a market capitalization of $20.80 billion, a PE ratio of 58.19, a P/E/G ratio of 2.24 and a beta of 0.99. Cooper Companies has a 52-week low of $82.21 and a 52-week high of $112.38. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $105.18 and a 200-day simple moving average of $98.60. The company has a quick ratio of 1.18, a current ratio of 1.99 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33.

Cooper Companies (NASDAQ:COO) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, August 28th. The medical device company reported $0.96 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.91 by $0.05. The company had revenue of $1 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $997.30 million. Cooper Companies had a net margin of 9.45% and a return on equity of 9.08%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm earned $0.84 EPS. Equities research analysts predict that Cooper Companies will post 3.65 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In related news, COO Daniel G. Mcbride sold 114,992 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, September 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $105.48, for a total transaction of $12,129,356.16. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 44,696 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,714,534.08. This represents a 72.01 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CAO Agostino Ricupati sold 1,601 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, September 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $108.03, for a total value of $172,956.03. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 4,818 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $520,488.54. This trade represents a 24.94 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 256,373 shares of company stock worth $27,637,427 over the last three months. Corporate insiders own 2.00% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Cooper Companies

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of COO. Point72 Asset Management L.P. grew its stake in shares of Cooper Companies by 480.1% in the 2nd quarter. Point72 Asset Management L.P. now owns 937,806 shares of the medical device company’s stock valued at $81,870,000 after buying an additional 776,140 shares in the last quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. grew its position in Cooper Companies by 23.0% in the third quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 3,950,119 shares of the medical device company’s stock worth $435,856,000 after acquiring an additional 737,726 shares in the last quarter. Magnetar Financial LLC acquired a new position in shares of Cooper Companies during the 2nd quarter worth $63,822,000. TD Asset Management Inc bought a new position in shares of Cooper Companies during the 2nd quarter valued at $53,045,000. Finally, Impax Asset Management Group plc lifted its stake in shares of Cooper Companies by 31.0% in the 2nd quarter. Impax Asset Management Group plc now owns 2,359,798 shares of the medical device company’s stock valued at $205,511,000 after purchasing an additional 558,886 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 24.39% of the company’s stock.

Cooper Companies Company Profile

The Cooper Companies, Inc, together with its subsidiaries, develops, manufactures, and markets contact lens wearers. The company operates in two segments, CooperVision and CooperSurgical. The CooperVision segment provides spherical lense, including lenses that correct near and farsightedness; and toric and multifocal lenses comprising lenses correcting vision challenges, such as astigmatism, presbyopia, and myopia in the Americas, Europe, Middle East, Africa, and Asia Pacific.