Bausch + Lomb’s (BLCO) Hold Rating Reaffirmed at Needham & Company LLC

Needham & Company LLC restated their hold rating on shares of Bausch + Lomb (NYSE:BLCO) in a research report released on Monday morning, Benzinga reports.

A number of other equities analysts have also recently commented on BLCO. Evercore lifted their price target 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. HC Wainwright cut their target price on Bausch + Lomb from $20.00 to $19.00 and set a buy rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, August 5th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised their price target on Bausch + Lomb from $14.00 to $18.00 and gave the stock a hold rating in a research note on Thursday, August 1st. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an outperform rating and issued a $20.00 price objective on shares of Bausch + Lomb in a research report on Thursday, August 1st. Finally, Raymond James assumed coverage on Bausch + Lomb in a research report on Wednesday, July 10th. They set an outperform rating and a $19.00 target price for the company. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus price target of $18.59.

Bausch + Lomb Trading Up 7.7 %

Shares of BLCO stock opened at $19.99 on Monday. The company has a market cap of $7.03 billion, a PE ratio of -20.82, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.47 and a beta of 0.46. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.70, a current ratio of 1.65 and a quick ratio of 1.01. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $16.30 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $15.65. Bausch + Lomb has a 1 year low of $13.16 and a 1 year high of $21.00.

Bausch + Lomb (NYSE:BLCO) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 31st. The company reported $0.13 earnings per share for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $0.13. The company had revenue of $1.22 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.17 billion. Bausch + Lomb had a positive return on equity of 3.36% and a negative net margin of 10.15%. Bausch + Lomb’s quarterly revenue was up 17.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.18 EPS. Research analysts predict that Bausch + Lomb will post 0.6 earnings per share for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Bausch + Lomb news, CEO Brent L. Saunders purchased 32,250 shares of Bausch + Lomb stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 5th. The stock was acquired at an average price of $15.66 per share, for a total transaction of $505,035.00. Following the acquisition, the chief executive officer now owns 595,169 shares in the company, valued at approximately $9,320,346.54. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Bausch + Lomb

Institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Renaissance Capital LLC lifted its holdings in Bausch + Lomb by 3.0% during the first quarter. Renaissance Capital LLC now owns 23,076 shares of the company’s stock worth $399,000 after buying an additional 669 shares during the period. Blue Trust Inc. boosted its position in Bausch + Lomb by 14,052.2% during the second quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 3,255 shares of the company’s stock valued at $47,000 after purchasing an additional 3,232 shares in the last quarter. Gabelli Funds LLC grew its stake in Bausch + Lomb by 3.3% in the first quarter. Gabelli Funds LLC now owns 312,000 shares of the company’s stock valued at $5,398,000 after purchasing an additional 10,000 shares during the last quarter. Brandes Investment Partners LP raised its holdings in Bausch + Lomb by 11.0% in the fourth quarter. Brandes Investment Partners LP now owns 114,200 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,948,000 after purchasing an additional 11,321 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Squarepoint Ops LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Bausch + Lomb during the second quarter valued at about $173,000. 11.07% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

About Bausch + Lomb

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.