Ocular Therapeutix’s (OCUL) “Buy” Rating Reiterated at Needham & Company LLC

Ocular Therapeutix (NASDAQ:OCUL)‘s stock had its “buy” rating restated by stock analysts at Needham & Company LLC in a research report issued to clients and investors on Monday, Benzinga reports. They currently have a $18.00 target price on the biopharmaceutical company’s stock. Needham & Company LLC’s price target suggests a potential upside of 187.31% from the company’s current price.

Several other equities analysts also recently weighed in on OCUL. Chardan Capital restated a “buy” rating and issued a $23.00 target price on shares of Ocular Therapeutix in a research report on Friday, October 2nd. Zacks Research upgraded Ocular Therapeutix from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 12th. Weiss Ratings restated a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of Ocular Therapeutix in a research report on Thursday. Royal Bank Of Canada restated an “outperform” rating on shares of Ocular Therapeutix in a research report on Tuesday, September 29th. Finally, Wall Street Zen upgraded Ocular Therapeutix from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, August 8th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nine have given a Buy rating, one has given a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $22.86.

Ocular Therapeutix Price Performance

Shares of OCUL stock traded down $0.61 on Monday, reaching $6.27. 6,772,045 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 3,974,834. The company has a market cap of $1.38 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -4.43 and a beta of 1.00. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $9.56 and a 200 day moving average price of $9.24. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14, a quick ratio of 13.03 and a current ratio of 13.10. Ocular Therapeutix has a 1 year low of $6.00 and a 1 year high of $16.44.

Ocular Therapeutix (NASDAQ:OCUL) last released its earnings results on Monday, August 3rd. The biopharmaceutical company reported ($0.35) EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.40) by $0.05. The business had revenue of $13.48 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $13.20 million. Ocular Therapeutix had a negative net margin of 579.10% and a negative return on equity of 59.89%. The company’s quarterly revenue was down .1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned ($0.39) earnings per share. Equities research analysts forecast that Ocular Therapeutix will post -1.47 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at Ocular Therapeutix

In other news, insider Peter Kaiser sold 9,990 shares of Ocular Therapeutix stock in a transaction on Friday, October 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $7.05, for a total value of $70,429.50. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 254,388 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,793,435.40. The trade was a 3.78% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards. Also, insider Todd Anderman sold 11,984 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, October 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $7.29, for a total transaction of $87,363.36. Following the sale, the insider owned 140,484 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,024,128.36. This trade represents a 7.86% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards. Insiders have sold a total of 62,720 shares of company stock valued at $556,247 in the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 3.10% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP acquired a new position in shares of Ocular Therapeutix in the 1st quarter valued at $5,491,000. Bank of America Corp DE acquired a new position in Ocular Therapeutix in the second quarter valued at $5,099,000. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company grew its holdings in shares of Ocular Therapeutix by 145.9% during the first quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 227,808 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $1,930,000 after purchasing an additional 135,160 shares during the last quarter. Squarepoint Ops LLC grew its holdings in shares of Ocular Therapeutix by 44.4% during the second quarter. Squarepoint Ops LLC now owns 1,415,913 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $13,904,000 after purchasing an additional 435,156 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp acquired a new stake in shares of Ocular Therapeutix during the second quarter worth about $5,433,000. 59.21% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Ocular Therapeutix Company Profile

Ocular Therapeutix, Inc is a biopharmaceutical company focused on developing and commercializing therapies for diseases and conditions affecting the eye. The company uses its proprietary hydrogel-based formulation and delivery technologies to create sustained-release treatments intended to improve drug delivery, reduce dosing frequency and address unmet needs in ophthalmology.

Its commercial product is DEXTENZA, a corticosteroid ophthalmic insert that is placed in the canaliculus by a healthcare professional.