Boston Scientific’s (BSX) “Buy” Rating Reiterated at Needham & Company LLC

Needham & Company LLC reissued their buy rating on shares of Boston Scientific (NYSE:BSX) in a report issued on Wednesday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has a $115.00 price objective on the medical equipment provider’s stock.

A number of other equities research analysts also recently commented on the company. Citigroup reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $125.00 price objective (up previously from $119.00) on shares of Boston Scientific in a report on Thursday, May 22nd. Robert W. Baird upped their price objective on Boston Scientific from $115.00 to $120.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, April 24th. Stifel Nicolaus upped their price objective on Boston Scientific from $100.00 to $115.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, February 6th. Erste Group Bank upgraded Boston Scientific to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Thursday, May 8th. Finally, UBS Group upped their price objective on Boston Scientific from $105.00 to $130.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, February 7th. Twenty-one research analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $116.00.

Boston Scientific Trading Up 0.6%

Shares of BSX opened at $105.08 on Wednesday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.02, a current ratio of 1.08 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.41. Boston Scientific has a 12-month low of $71.88 and a 12-month high of $107.17. The firm has a market capitalization of $155.46 billion, a PE ratio of 84.06, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.79 and a beta of 0.68. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $100.29 and its 200-day simple moving average is $97.88.

Boston Scientific (NYSE:BSX) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 23rd. The medical equipment provider reported $0.75 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.67 by $0.08. Boston Scientific had a return on equity of 17.80% and a net margin of 11.07%. The business had revenue of $4.66 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.57 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.56 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 20.9% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts predict that Boston Scientific will post 2.85 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity

In related news, SVP Vance R. Brown sold 4,826 shares of Boston Scientific stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, April 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $95.09, for a total transaction of $458,904.34. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 36,193 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,441,592.37. This trade represents a 11.77% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CEO Michael F. Mahoney sold 164,443 shares of Boston Scientific stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $102.48, for a total value of $16,852,118.64. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 1,535,706 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $157,379,150.88. The trade was a 9.67% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 191,155 shares of company stock valued at $19,556,047 over the last three months. Insiders own 0.50% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Boston Scientific

A number of hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in BSX. Norges Bank bought a new position in Boston Scientific during the 4th quarter worth $1,762,522,000. Capital World Investors increased its stake in Boston Scientific by 28.7% during the 4th quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 27,899,903 shares of the medical equipment provider’s stock worth $2,492,041,000 after acquiring an additional 6,216,199 shares during the period. Wellington Management Group LLP increased its stake in Boston Scientific by 10.2% during the 4th quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 36,165,399 shares of the medical equipment provider’s stock worth $3,230,293,000 after acquiring an additional 3,344,571 shares during the period. GAMMA Investing LLC increased its stake in Boston Scientific by 11,720.3% during the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 2,577,887 shares of the medical equipment provider’s stock worth $260,057,000 after acquiring an additional 2,556,078 shares during the period. Finally, Axiom Investors LLC DE increased its stake in Boston Scientific by 208.2% during the 4th quarter. Axiom Investors LLC DE now owns 3,752,430 shares of the medical equipment provider’s stock worth $335,167,000 after acquiring an additional 2,535,007 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 89.07% of the company’s stock.

Boston Scientific Company Profile

Boston Scientific Corporation develops, manufactures, and markets medical devices for use in various interventional medical specialties worldwide. It operates through two segments, MedSurg and Cardiovascular. The company offers devices to diagnose and treat gastrointestinal and pulmonary conditions, such as resolution clips, biliary stent systems, stents and electrocautery enhanced delivery systems, direct visualization systems, digital catheters, and single-use duodenoscopes; devices to treat urological conditions, including ureteral stents, catheters, baskets, guidewires, sheaths, balloons, single-use digital flexible ureteroscopes, holmium laser systems, artificial urinary sphincter, laser system, fiber, and hydrogel systems; and devices to treat neurological movement disorders and manage chronic pain, such as spinal cord stimulator system, proprietary programming software, radiofrequency generator, indirect decompression systems, practice optimization tools, and deep brain stimulation system.