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 changing hands.

Analyst Ratings Changes

BLCO has been the topic of several recent research reports. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lifted their target price 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. Evercore upped their price target on Bausch + Lomb from $15.50 to $17.00 and gave the company an “in-line” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 1st. Needham & Company LLC reissued a “hold” rating on shares of Bausch + Lomb in a report on Monday. 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. Finally, Raymond James assumed coverage on shares of 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 investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $18.59.

Bausch + Lomb Trading Up 8.3 %

The company has a quick ratio of 1.01, a current ratio of 1.65 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.70. The business’s fifty day moving average is $16.21 and its two-hundred day moving average is $15.62. The firm has a market cap of $7.07 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -20.90, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.47 and a beta of 0.46.

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

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO Brent L. Saunders purchased 32,250 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 5th. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $15.66 per share, for a total transaction of $505,035.00. Following 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 acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Bausch + Lomb

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Brandes Investment Partners LP boosted its holdings in shares of Bausch + Lomb by 11.0% in the 4th quarter. Brandes Investment Partners LP now owns 114,200 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,948,000 after buying an additional 11,321 shares during the last quarter. Allianz Asset Management GmbH bought a new position in shares of Bausch + Lomb in the 4th quarter valued at about $1,706,000. Gabelli Funds LLC increased its stake in shares of Bausch + Lomb by 14.5% during the 4th quarter. Gabelli Funds LLC now owns 302,000 shares of the company’s stock worth $5,152,000 after purchasing an additional 38,256 shares during the last quarter. Freshford Capital Management LLC increased its position in Bausch + Lomb by 29.8% during the 4th quarter. Freshford Capital Management LLC now owns 1,754,123 shares of the company’s stock worth $29,925,000 after buying an additional 403,062 shares during the period. Finally, Quadrature Capital Ltd boosted its position in shares of Bausch + Lomb by 75.8% in the fourth quarter. Quadrature Capital Ltd now owns 48,258 shares of the company’s stock valued at $824,000 after acquiring an additional 20,803 shares during the period. 11.07% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.