Bausch + Lomb (NYSE:BLCO) Sees Unusually-High Trading Volume After Analyst Upgrade

Bausch + Lomb Co. (NYSE:BLCO) shares saw strong trading volume on Monday after HC Wainwright raised their price target on the stock from $19.00 to $22.00. HC Wainwright currently has a buy rating on the stock. 429,130 shares were traded during trading, a decline of 23% from the previous session’s volume of 559,506 shares.The stock last traded at $19.71 and had previously closed at $19.96.

A number of other research firms have also recently issued reports on BLCO. Evercore ISI lifted their target price on shares of Bausch + Lomb from $15.00 to $15.50 and gave the company an “in-line” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 2nd. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price objective on Bausch + Lomb from $16.00 to $19.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday. Raymond James assumed coverage on Bausch + Lomb in a research note on Wednesday, July 10th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $19.00 target price for the company. Needham & Company LLC reiterated a “hold” rating on shares of Bausch + Lomb in a research report on Monday, September 16th. Finally, Evercore boosted their target price 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. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Bausch + Lomb currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $19.14.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CEO Brent L. Saunders bought 32,250 shares of Bausch + Lomb stock in a transaction on Monday, August 5th. The shares were purchased at an average price of $15.66 per share, for a total transaction of $505,035.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the chief executive officer now owns 595,169 shares in the company, valued at $9,320,346.54. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of BLCO. Clearline Capital LP grew its holdings in Bausch + Lomb by 136.8% during the second quarter. Clearline Capital LP now owns 712,055 shares of the company’s stock valued at $10,339,000 after purchasing an additional 411,404 shares during the period. Freshford Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in Bausch + Lomb by 29.8% during the fourth quarter. Freshford Capital Management LLC now owns 1,754,123 shares of the company’s stock valued at $29,925,000 after purchasing an additional 403,062 shares during the period. Invenomic Capital Management LP acquired a new position in Bausch + Lomb during the first quarter valued at approximately $6,817,000. Whitebox Advisors LLC grew its holdings in Bausch + Lomb by 28.2% during the second quarter. Whitebox Advisors LLC now owns 1,545,946 shares of the company’s stock valued at $22,447,000 after purchasing an additional 339,643 shares during the period. Finally, Rokos Capital Management LLP bought a new position in Bausch + Lomb in the first quarter valued at approximately $5,602,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 11.07% of the company’s stock.

Bausch + Lomb Stock Performance

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 $16.53 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $15.71. The stock has a market cap of $6.76 billion, a P/E ratio of -20.01, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.47 and a beta of 0.46.

Bausch + Lomb (NYSE:BLCO) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 31st. The company reported $0.13 earnings per share for the quarter, meeting 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 analyst estimates of $1.17 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.18 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 17.5% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts forecast that Bausch + Lomb Co. will post 0.6 EPS for the current year.

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.