Bausch + Lomb (NYSE:BLCO) Stock Price Down 6.5%

Bausch + Lomb Co. (NYSE:BLCO) fell 6.5% during mid-day trading on Friday . The stock traded as low as $14.01 and last traded at $14.03. 820,982 shares changed hands during mid-day trading, an increase of 77% from the average session volume of 464,240 shares. The stock had previously closed at $15.00.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages have recently issued reports on BLCO. Evercore reduced their target price on shares of Bausch + Lomb from $17.00 to $16.50 and set an “in-line” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, February 22nd. Evercore ISI lifted their price objective on shares of Bausch + Lomb from $16.50 to $17.00 and gave the stock an “in-line” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 4th. Royal Bank of Canada set a $20.00 price objective on shares of Bausch + Lomb and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, December 29th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on shares of Bausch + Lomb from $21.00 to $23.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 22nd. Finally, Barclays lifted their price objective on shares of Bausch + Lomb from $17.00 to $18.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday, February 26th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $19.68.

Bausch + Lomb Price Performance

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.65, a current ratio of 1.74 and a quick ratio of 1.09. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $15.87 and its 200-day simple moving average is $15.85. The stock has a market capitalization of $5.00 billion, a P/E ratio of -19.24, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.45 and a beta of 0.36.

Bausch + Lomb (NYSE:BLCO) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 21st. The company reported $0.24 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.17 by $0.07. Bausch + Lomb had a negative net margin of 6.27% and a positive return on equity of 3.70%. The firm had revenue of $1.17 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.11 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.23 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 17.8% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Bausch + Lomb Co. will post 0.65 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Trading of Bausch + Lomb

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Renaissance Capital LLC raised its position in shares of Bausch + Lomb by 3.0% in the first quarter. Renaissance Capital LLC now owns 23,076 shares of the company’s stock valued at $399,000 after purchasing an additional 669 shares during the period. Quadrature Capital Ltd raised its position in shares of Bausch + Lomb by 75.8% in the fourth quarter. Quadrature Capital Ltd now owns 48,258 shares of the company’s stock valued at $824,000 after purchasing an additional 20,803 shares during the period. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. bought a new position in shares of Bausch + Lomb in the fourth quarter valued at about $1,195,000. FIL Ltd raised its position in shares of Bausch + Lomb by 11.8% in the fourth quarter. FIL Ltd now owns 8,114,995 shares of the company’s stock valued at $138,442,000 after purchasing an additional 855,250 shares during the period. Finally, Barclays PLC raised its position in shares of Bausch + Lomb by 5,588.6% in the fourth quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 10,467 shares of the company’s stock valued at $179,000 after purchasing an additional 10,283 shares during the period. 11.07% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Bausch + Lomb Company Profile

Bausch + Lomb Corporation operates as an eye health company in the United States, Puerto Rico, China, France, Japan, Germany, the United Kingdom, Canada, Russia, Spain, Italy, Mexico, Poland, South Korea, and internationally. It operates in three segments: Vision Care, Pharmaceuticals, and Surgical. The Vision Care segment provides contact lens that covers the spectrum of wearing modalities, including daily disposable and frequently replaced contact lenses; and contact lens care products comprising over-the-counter eye drops, eye vitamins, and mineral supplements that address various conditions, such as eye allergies, conjunctivitis, dry eye, and redness relief.