Bausch + Lomb (NYSE:BLCO) Shares Gap Up to $18.56

Shares of Bausch + Lomb Co. (NYSE:BLCO) gapped up prior to trading on Wednesday . The stock had previously closed at $18.56, but opened at $19.30. Bausch + Lomb shares last traded at $20.06, with a volume of 296,280 shares trading hands.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have weighed in on BLCO. Raymond James assumed coverage on Bausch + Lomb in a research note on Wednesday, July 10th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $19.00 target price for the company. Evercore lifted their target price on Bausch + Lomb from $15.50 to $17.00 and gave the stock an “in-line” rating in a report on Thursday, August 1st. Royal Bank of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $20.00 price target on shares of Bausch + Lomb in a research report on Thursday, August 1st. Needham & Company LLC reissued a “hold” rating on shares of Bausch + Lomb in a research note on Monday. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upped their price target on shares of Bausch + Lomb from $14.00 to $18.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 1st. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $18.59.

Bausch + Lomb Stock Up 8.3 %

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 stock has a market capitalization of $7.07 billion, a PE ratio of -20.90, a P/E/G ratio of 1.47 and a beta of 0.46. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $16.21 and its 200-day simple moving average is $15.62.

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

Insider Buying and Selling at Bausch + Lomb

In other news, CEO Brent L. Saunders bought 32,250 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, August 5th. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $15.66 per share, with a total value of $505,035.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 595,169 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $9,320,346.54. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Bausch + Lomb

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