STAAR Surgical (NASDAQ:STAA) Stock Rating Upgraded by Canaccord Genuity Group

STAAR Surgical (NASDAQ:STAA) was upgraded by research analysts at Canaccord Genuity Group from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report issued on Thursday,Benzinga reports. The firm presently has a $27.00 target price on the medical instruments supplier’s stock, up from their previous target price of $22.00. Canaccord Genuity Group’s price target points to a potential upside of 29.31% from the company’s current price.

Several other research analysts have also weighed in on STAA. Needham & Company LLC reissued a “hold” rating on shares of STAAR Surgical in a research report on Tuesday, January 6th. Stifel Nicolaus dropped their price target on STAAR Surgical from $19.00 to $18.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, March 4th. BTIG Research reissued a “neutral” rating on shares of STAAR Surgical in a research report on Tuesday, January 6th. Morgan Stanley began coverage on STAAR Surgical in a research report on Friday, January 16th. They set an “underweight” rating and a $13.00 price target on the stock. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price target on STAAR Surgical from $30.75 to $16.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, March 5th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, seven have given a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $19.93.

STAAR Surgical Stock Down 1.0%

Shares of NASDAQ STAA opened at $20.88 on Thursday. STAAR Surgical has a 12 month low of $14.69 and a 12 month high of $30.81. The company has a market cap of $1.03 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -12.81 and a beta of 1.04. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $18.43 and a 200-day simple moving average of $22.61.

STAAR Surgical (NASDAQ:STAA) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, March 3rd. The medical instruments supplier reported ($0.37) earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.14 by ($0.51). The business had revenue of $57.80 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $75.54 million. STAAR Surgical had a negative net margin of 33.60% and a negative return on equity of 10.03%. STAAR Surgical’s revenue for the quarter was up 18.0% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that STAAR Surgical will post -1.14 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Broadwood Partners, L.P. bought 316,017 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, March 13th. The shares were bought at an average cost of $18.61 per share, with a total value of $5,881,076.37. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 16,123,842 shares in the company, valued at approximately $300,064,699.62. This trade represents a 2.00% increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Over the last quarter, insiders bought 697,698 shares of company stock valued at $12,872,294. Corporate insiders own 0.59% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Broadwood Capital Inc. increased its position in STAAR Surgical by 11.1% in the 4th quarter. Broadwood Capital Inc. now owns 15,019,491 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock worth $346,800,000 after purchasing an additional 1,500,000 shares during the last quarter. Soleus Capital Management L.P. increased its position in STAAR Surgical by 16.5% in the 2nd quarter. Soleus Capital Management L.P. now owns 2,984,733 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock worth $50,084,000 after purchasing an additional 421,840 shares during the last quarter. Yunqi Capital Ltd increased its position in STAAR Surgical by 0.3% in the 4th quarter. Yunqi Capital Ltd now owns 2,507,130 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock worth $57,890,000 after purchasing an additional 7,069 shares during the last quarter. Magnetar Financial LLC increased its position in STAAR Surgical by 105.3% in the 4th quarter. Magnetar Financial LLC now owns 2,472,390 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock worth $57,087,000 after purchasing an additional 1,268,019 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Goldman Sachs Group Inc. increased its position in STAAR Surgical by 112.7% in the 4th quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 2,076,743 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock worth $47,952,000 after purchasing an additional 1,100,484 shares during the last quarter. 96.70% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

About STAAR Surgical

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.