Stephens Reaffirms Equal Weight Rating for STAAR Surgical (NASDAQ:STAA)

STAAR Surgical (NASDAQ:STAA)‘s stock had its “equal weight” rating reiterated by research analysts at Stephens in a report released on Tuesday,Benzinga reports. They currently have a $17.00 target price on the medical instruments supplier’s stock. Stephens’ price objective suggests a potential downside of 6.85% from the company’s current price.

STAA has been the subject of several other research reports. William Blair cut STAAR Surgical from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 12th. Needham & Company LLC reissued a “hold” rating on shares of STAAR Surgical in a research report on Thursday, February 27th. Mizuho lowered STAAR Surgical from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and cut their target price for the stock from $45.00 to $17.00 in a research report on Wednesday, February 12th. Canaccord Genuity Group cut their target price on STAAR Surgical from $28.00 to $17.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. Finally, StockNews.com lowered STAAR Surgical from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating and one has assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, STAAR Surgical presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $25.29.

STAAR Surgical Stock Performance

Shares of STAA opened at $18.25 on Tuesday. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $20.08 and a 200-day simple moving average of $25.87. The stock has a market capitalization of $900.18 million, a PE ratio of -44.51 and a beta of 0.66. STAAR Surgical has a 1 year low of $13.50 and a 1 year high of $52.68.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, major shareholder Broadwood Partners, L.P. bought 249,503 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 3rd. The shares were acquired at an average price of $16.64 per share, with a total value of $4,151,729.92. Following the completion of the acquisition, the insider now owns 11,953,198 shares in the company, valued at approximately $198,901,214.72. This trade represents a 2.13 % increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Insiders have bought a total of 834,343 shares of company stock valued at $13,653,542 over the last quarter. Company insiders own 1.00% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Broadwood Capital Inc. increased its holdings in shares of STAAR Surgical by 0.7% in the fourth quarter. Broadwood Capital Inc. now owns 10,848,631 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock valued at $263,513,000 after purchasing an additional 80,200 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of STAAR Surgical by 5.8% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 5,855,570 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock valued at $142,232,000 after purchasing an additional 319,441 shares during the period. State Street Corp increased its holdings in shares of STAAR Surgical by 0.5% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 1,940,567 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock valued at $72,092,000 after purchasing an additional 10,430 shares during the period. Resona Asset Management Co. Ltd. acquired a new position in shares of STAAR Surgical in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $36,411,000. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of STAAR Surgical by 2.7% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,174,499 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock valued at $43,641,000 after purchasing an additional 31,212 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 96.70% of the company’s stock.

About STAAR Surgical

STAAR Surgical Company, together with its subsidiaries, designs, develops, manufactures, markets, and sells implantable lenses for the eye, and companion delivery systems to deliver the lenses into the eye. The company provides implantable Collamer lens product family (ICLs) to treat visual disorders, such as myopia, hyperopia, astigmatism, and presbyopia.