Bausch + Lomb Corporation (NYSE:BLCO) Stock Rated “Hold” by Wall Street Analysts

Shares of Bausch + Lomb Corporation (NYSE:BLCO) have received a consensus recommendation of “Hold” from the fifteen research firms that are currently covering the firm, Marketbeat reports. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, seven have given a hold recommendation, six have assigned a buy recommendation and one has assigned a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average 1-year price objective among analysts that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $19.46.

BLCO has been the subject of a number of research reports. UBS Group assumed coverage on Bausch + Lomb in a report on Thursday, July 30th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $21.00 price objective for the company. Evercore set a $17.00 price objective on Bausch + Lomb in a research note on Monday, July 6th. Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed a “hold” rating on shares of Bausch + Lomb in a research report on Tuesday, September 15th. HC Wainwright reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $21.00 price objective on shares of Bausch + Lomb in a report on Friday, August 28th. Finally, Barclays upgraded shares of Bausch + Lomb to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 7th.

Bausch + Lomb Trading Up 0.1%

BLCO opened at $17.44 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $6.23 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -36.33, a PEG ratio of 0.55 and a beta of 0.56. Bausch + Lomb has a one year low of $14.44 and a one year high of $18.92. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $17.17 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $16.48. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.79, a current ratio of 1.55 and a quick ratio of 1.02.

Bausch + Lomb (NYSE:BLCO) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 29th. The company reported $0.15 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.16 by ($0.01). Bausch + Lomb had a positive return on equity of 4.14% and a negative net margin of 3.21%. The business had revenue of $1.39 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.37 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned ($0.18) EPS. The business’s revenue was up 9.1% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts predict that Bausch + Lomb will post 0.81 EPS for the current year.

Insider Transactions at Bausch + Lomb

In other news, Director Eschenbach Andrew C. Von sold 6,059 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $16.58, for a total value of $100,458.22. Following the transaction, the director owned 63,733 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,056,693.14. This trade represents a 8.68% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CAO Frederick Munsch sold 52,900 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $16.78, for a total value of $887,662.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer owned 45,831 shares in the company, valued at $769,044.18. The trade was a 53.58% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 71,459 shares of company stock valued at $1,194,370. Company insiders own 1.45% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several large investors have recently modified their holdings of BLCO. Beach Point Capital Management LP purchased a new position in shares of Bausch + Lomb during the third quarter worth approximately $5,882,000. Counterpoint Mutual Funds LLC purchased a new stake in Bausch + Lomb in the third quarter worth about $670,000. Roxbury Financial LLC bought a new position in Bausch + Lomb during the 3rd quarter worth about $33,000. Engineers Gate Manager LP purchased a new position in Bausch + Lomb during the 2nd quarter valued at about $1,479,000. Finally, Squarepoint Ops LLC increased its position in Bausch + Lomb by 31.7% during the 2nd quarter. Squarepoint Ops LLC now owns 24,379 shares of the company’s stock valued at $404,000 after purchasing an additional 5,861 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 11.07% of the company’s stock.

Bausch + Lomb Company Profile

Bausch + Lomb Corporation (NYSE: BLCO) is a global eye-health company that develops, manufactures and markets products for vision care, ophthalmic pharmaceuticals and eye surgery. The company serves consumers, eye-care professionals, hospitals and surgical centers through a portfolio spanning contact lenses, contact-lens care products, prescription medicines, over-the-counter eye-care products and surgical equipment.

Its vision-care portfolio includes the Biotrue and INFUSE contact-lens brands, as well as solutions and other products used to clean and maintain contact lenses.