Bausch + Lomb (NYSE:BLCO) Stock Rating Reaffirmed by HC Wainwright

Bausch + Lomb (NYSE:BLCO)‘s stock had its “buy” rating reaffirmed by investment analysts at HC Wainwright in a research report issued on Thursday, Benzinga reports. They presently have a $20.00 target price on the stock. HC Wainwright’s target price would indicate a potential upside of 45.56% from the company’s previous close.

A number of other equities analysts have also commented on BLCO. Royal Bank of Canada reduced their price objective on Bausch + Lomb from $20.00 to $18.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, April 22nd. Evercore ISI boosted their price objective on Bausch + Lomb from $16.50 to $17.00 and gave the stock an “in-line” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 4th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on Bausch + Lomb from $21.00 to $23.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 22nd. Barclays upped their price target on Bausch + Lomb from $17.00 to $18.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday, February 26th. Finally, Evercore cut their price target on Bausch + Lomb from $17.00 to $16.50 and set an “in-line” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, February 22nd. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $19.41.

Bausch + Lomb Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:BLCO opened at $13.74 on Thursday. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $15.97 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $15.65. Bausch + Lomb has a fifty-two week low of $13.62 and a fifty-two week high of $21.95. The stock has a market capitalization of $4.83 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -18.57, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.40 and a beta of 0.47. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.65, a current ratio of 1.74 and a quick ratio of 1.09.

Bausch + Lomb (NYSE:BLCO) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 21st. The company reported $0.24 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.17 by $0.07. The firm had revenue of $1.17 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.11 billion. Bausch + Lomb had a positive return on equity of 3.70% and a negative net margin of 6.27%. The business’s revenue was up 17.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.23 earnings per share. As a group, analysts predict that Bausch + Lomb will post 0.65 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Bausch + Lomb

Several hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in BLCO. Renaissance Capital LLC increased its holdings in shares of Bausch + Lomb by 3.0% in the first 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. Quadrature Capital Ltd increased its holdings 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 worth $824,000 after acquiring an additional 20,803 shares in the last quarter. Freshford Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Bausch + Lomb by 29.8% in the fourth quarter. Freshford Capital Management LLC now owns 1,754,123 shares of the company’s stock worth $29,925,000 after acquiring an additional 403,062 shares in the last quarter. Gabelli Funds LLC increased its holdings in shares of Bausch + Lomb by 14.5% in the fourth quarter. Gabelli Funds LLC now owns 302,000 shares of the company’s stock worth $5,152,000 after acquiring an additional 38,256 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Allianz Asset Management GmbH bought a new stake in shares of Bausch + Lomb in the fourth quarter worth about $1,706,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.