Bausch + Lomb (NYSE:BLCO) Upgraded at Wall Street Zen

Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Bausch + Lomb (NYSE:BLCO) from a buy rating to a strong-buy rating in a research report released on Saturday,Wall Street Zen reports.

BLCO has been the subject of several other research reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on shares of Bausch + Lomb from $16.00 to $22.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 29th. Royal Bank Of Canada lifted their price objective on shares of Bausch + Lomb from $21.00 to $23.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, October 29th. Barclays raised shares of Bausch + Lomb to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 7th. Evercore set a $17.00 price objective on shares of Bausch + Lomb in a research note on Monday, July 6th. Finally, UBS Group began coverage on Bausch + Lomb in a report on Thursday, July 30th. They set a “buy” rating and a $21.00 target price for the company. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, four have assigned a Buy rating, eight have given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $20.83.

Bausch + Lomb Stock Up 0.4%

NYSE:BLCO opened at $20.07 on Friday. 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 has a 1-year low of $14.44 and a 1-year high of $21.36. The company has a 50-day moving average of $17.41 and a 200 day moving average of $16.70. The firm has a market cap of $7.17 billion, a PE ratio of -64.76, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.64 and a beta of 0.56.

Bausch + Lomb (NYSE:BLCO) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, October 28th. The company reported $0.34 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.21 by $0.13. The business had revenue of $1.38 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.37 billion. Bausch + Lomb had a negative net margin of 2.05% and a positive return on equity of 5.02%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.18 EPS. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Bausch + Lomb will post 0.94 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Transactions at Bausch + Lomb

In other Bausch + Lomb news, Director Eschenbach Andrew C. Von sold 6,059 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $16.58, for a total value of $100,458.22. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 63,733 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,056,693.14. The trade was a 8.68% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CAO Frederick Munsch sold 112,015 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, October 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $20.48, for a total transaction of $2,294,067.20. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer directly owned 45,831 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $938,618.88. The trade was a 70.96% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 183,474 shares of company stock worth $3,488,437. 1.45% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the company. State of Wyoming lifted its position in Bausch + Lomb by 6.9% during the third quarter. State of Wyoming now owns 13,772 shares of the company’s stock valued at $234,000 after acquiring an additional 887 shares during the last quarter. Beach Point Capital Management LP purchased a new position in Bausch + Lomb in the third quarter worth $5,882,000. Counterpoint Mutual Funds LLC purchased a new position in Bausch + Lomb in the third quarter worth $670,000. Roxbury Financial LLC acquired a new position in shares of Bausch + Lomb during the third quarter worth $33,000. Finally, Engineers Gate Manager LP acquired a new position in shares of Bausch + Lomb during the second quarter worth $1,479,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 11.07% of the company’s stock.

More Bausch + Lomb News

Here are the key news stories impacting Bausch + Lomb this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Strong-buy and momentum rankings: Zacks added BLCO to its Rank #1 (Strong Buy) lists for both momentum and overall stock selection. Zacks also identified the company as a potential long-term value stock, which may attract growth and value-oriented investors. Best Momentum Stock to Buy for November 2nd Why Bausch + Lomb Is a Top Value Stock
• Positive Sentiment: Higher consensus valuation: The consensus price target reportedly increased 10.44% to $21.92, suggesting analysts see additional upside from recent trading levels. Bausch + Lomb Consensus Price Target Raised
• Positive Sentiment: Operating momentum: Highlights from BLCO’s third-quarter earnings call emphasized strong growth. The company previously reported revenue growth of 7.3% year over year and earnings that exceeded analyst expectations, supporting the bullish case. Bausch + Lomb Earnings Call Highlights Strong Growth
• Neutral Sentiment: Mixed analyst signal: HC Wainwright raised its price target to $22 from $21 but downgraded BLCO from Buy to Neutral, indicating improved valuation expectations but less conviction that the stock will materially outperform. HC Wainwright Downgrades Bausch + Lomb
• Negative Sentiment: Insider selling: Chief Accounting Officer Frederick Munsch sold 112,015 shares worth approximately $2.29 million, reducing his holdings by about 71%. While insider sales can be routine, the transaction may concern investors because of its size.

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.