STAAR Surgical Company $STAA Shares Sold by Principal Financial Group Inc.

Principal Financial Group Inc. decreased its position in STAAR Surgical Company (NASDAQ:STAA) by 12.0% in the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 256,575 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock after selling 34,993 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc.’s holdings in STAAR Surgical were worth $6,894,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. boosted its stake in shares of STAAR Surgical by 4.5% in the first quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 29,390 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock valued at $518,000 after purchasing an additional 1,267 shares during the period. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. lifted its holdings in STAAR Surgical by 33.4% in the 1st quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 544,843 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock worth $9,606,000 after buying an additional 136,390 shares in the last quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC boosted its position in STAAR Surgical by 11.6% in the 1st quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC now owns 123,347 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock valued at $2,175,000 after buying an additional 12,841 shares during the last quarter. CWM LLC grew its stake in shares of STAAR Surgical by 74.1% during the second quarter. CWM LLC now owns 1,563 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock valued at $26,000 after acquiring an additional 665 shares in the last quarter. Finally, AlphaQuest LLC increased its position in shares of STAAR Surgical by 197.4% during the second quarter. AlphaQuest LLC now owns 10,879 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock worth $183,000 after acquiring an additional 7,221 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 96.70% of the company’s stock.

STAAR Surgical Trading Down 2.4%

Shares of NASDAQ STAA opened at $16.10 on Friday. STAAR Surgical Company has a twelve month low of $14.69 and a twelve month high of $30.81. The company has a market capitalization of $800.81 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -8.26 and a beta of 1.06. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $21.40 and a 200-day simple moving average of $24.67.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other STAAR Surgical news, major shareholder Broadwood Partners, L.P. bought 27,485 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, January 9th. The stock was purchased at an average price of $22.05 per share, for a total transaction of $606,044.25. Following the completion of the purchase, the insider directly owned 15,453,629 shares in the company, valued at approximately $340,752,519.45. This trade represents a 0.18% increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Insiders have acquired a total of 1,934,138 shares of company stock worth $50,485,791 in the last three months. 0.59% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages recently commented on STAA. Needham & Company LLC reissued a “hold” rating on shares of STAAR Surgical in a report on Tuesday, January 6th. Wedbush initiated coverage on STAAR Surgical in a research report on Tuesday, February 3rd. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $26.00 target price on the stock. Weiss Ratings reissued a “sell (d)” rating on shares of STAAR Surgical in a research report on Thursday, January 22nd. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on shares of STAAR Surgical from $28.00 to $30.75 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 10th. Finally, BTIG Research reiterated a “neutral” rating on shares of STAAR Surgical in a research note on Tuesday, January 6th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating, nine have issued a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Reduce” and a consensus target price of $20.91.

STAAR Surgical Company Profile

STAAR Surgical Company, together with its subsidiaries, designs, develops, manufactures, markets, and sells implantable lenses for the eye, and companion delivery systems to deliver the lenses into the eye. The company provides implantable Collamer lens product family (ICLs) to treat visual disorders, such as myopia, hyperopia, astigmatism, and presbyopia. It markets its products to health care providers, including ophthalmic surgeons, vision and surgical centers, hospitals, government facilities, and distributors, as well as products are primarily used by ophthalmologists.