Bausch + Lomb (NYSE:BLCO) Shares Gap Up – Still a Buy?

Bausch + Lomb Co. (NYSE:BLCO)’s stock price gapped up before the market opened on Tuesday . The stock had previously closed at $20.87, but opened at $21.33. Bausch + Lomb shares last traded at $21.26, with a volume of 359,740 shares traded.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts recently weighed in on BLCO shares. HC Wainwright raised their target price on shares of Bausch + Lomb from $19.00 to $22.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, September 23rd. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $20.00 target price on shares of Bausch + Lomb in a report on Thursday, August 1st. Stifel Nicolaus increased their price target on Bausch + Lomb from $16.00 to $19.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, September 23rd. Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed a “hold” rating on shares of Bausch + Lomb in a research note on Monday, September 16th. Finally, Evercore ISI upgraded Bausch + Lomb from an “in-line” rating to an “outperform” rating and increased their target price for the company from $19.00 to $25.00 in a research report on Tuesday. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $20.00.

Bausch + Lomb Stock Down 0.0 %

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.70, a quick ratio of 1.01 and a current ratio of 1.65. The company has a fifty day moving average of $17.30 and a two-hundred day moving average of $16.01. The company has a market cap of $7.34 billion, a PE ratio of -21.72, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.76 and a beta of 0.48.

Bausch + Lomb (NYSE:BLCO) last announced its earnings results 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 negative net margin of 10.15% and a positive return on equity of 3.36%. The business had revenue of $1.22 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.17 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.18 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 17.5% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts anticipate that Bausch + Lomb Co. will post 0.6 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Bausch + Lomb news, CEO Brent L. Saunders purchased 32,250 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 5th. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $15.66 per share, with a total value of $505,035.00. Following the purchase, the chief executive officer now owns 595,169 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $9,320,346.54. The trade was a 0.00 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. 0.15% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Bausch + Lomb

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in BLCO. Blue Trust Inc. raised its position in Bausch + Lomb by 14,052.2% during the 2nd 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. Squarepoint Ops LLC purchased a new stake in Bausch + Lomb in the second quarter worth about $173,000. Fore Capital LLC bought a new position in Bausch + Lomb during the 1st quarter worth about $384,000. Renaissance Capital LLC grew its holdings in Bausch + Lomb by 3.0% during the 1st quarter. Renaissance Capital LLC now owns 23,076 shares of the company’s stock worth $399,000 after acquiring an additional 669 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Cubist Systematic Strategies LLC purchased a new position in Bausch + Lomb during the 2nd quarter valued at about $580,000. Institutional investors 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.