Wells Fargo & Company Issues Positive Forecast for Bausch + Lomb (NYSE:BLCO) Stock Price

Bausch + Lomb (NYSE:BLCO) had its price objective upped by research analysts at Wells Fargo & Company from $23.00 to $26.00 in a research report issued on Thursday, Benzinga reports. The firm currently has an “overweight” rating on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company‘s price objective indicates a potential upside of 28.21% from the company’s previous close.

BLCO has been the subject of several other reports. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft increased their target price on Bausch + Lomb from $14.00 to $18.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 1st. Needham & Company LLC reiterated a “hold” rating on shares of Bausch + Lomb in a report on Thursday. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their target price on shares of Bausch + Lomb from $16.00 to $19.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, September 23rd. Evercore ISI raised shares of Bausch + Lomb from an “in-line” rating to an “outperform” rating and raised their price target for the company from $19.00 to $25.00 in a research note on Tuesday, October 15th. Finally, Raymond James assumed coverage on shares of Bausch + Lomb in a research note on Wednesday, July 10th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $19.00 price objective on the stock. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $20.64.

Bausch + Lomb Price Performance

Shares of BLCO traded down $0.16 during mid-day trading on Thursday, reaching $20.28. The company had a trading volume of 610,256 shares, compared to its average volume of 569,894. The company has a market capitalization of $7.14 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -15.60, a P/E/G ratio of 1.76 and a beta of 0.48. 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’s 50 day simple moving average is $18.44 and its 200 day simple moving average is $16.38. Bausch + Lomb has a 1-year low of $13.16 and a 1-year high of $21.69.

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

Insider Buying and Selling at Bausch + Lomb

In other news, CEO Brent L. Saunders bought 32,250 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 5th. The shares were bought 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 $9,320,346.54. This trade represents a 0.00 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Insiders own 0.15% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of large investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Fore Capital LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Bausch + Lomb in the first quarter valued at about $384,000. Gabelli Funds LLC lifted its position in shares of Bausch + Lomb by 3.3% during the 1st quarter. Gabelli Funds LLC now owns 312,000 shares of the company’s stock worth $5,398,000 after buying an additional 10,000 shares in the last quarter. Whitebox Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of Bausch + Lomb by 29.3% in the 1st quarter. Whitebox Advisors LLC now owns 1,206,303 shares of the company’s stock worth $20,869,000 after buying an additional 273,484 shares during the last quarter. Invenomic Capital Management LP bought a new position in shares of Bausch + Lomb in the first quarter valued at approximately $6,817,000. Finally, Rokos Capital Management LLP purchased a new stake in shares of Bausch + Lomb during the first quarter valued at approximately $5,602,000. Institutional investors own 11.07% of the company’s stock.

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.