Wells Fargo & Company MN Raises Holdings in STAAR Surgical (NASDAQ:STAA)

Wells Fargo & Company MN lifted its position in STAAR Surgical (NASDAQ:STAA) by 27.2% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 26,081 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock after acquiring an additional 5,572 shares during the quarter. Wells Fargo & Company MN owned 0.05% of STAAR Surgical worth $634,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in STAA. KLP Kapitalforvaltning AS bought a new stake in shares of STAAR Surgical in the 4th quarter valued at about $180,000. Quantbot Technologies LP bought a new stake in STAAR Surgical during the fourth quarter valued at about $278,000. Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd purchased a new position in STAAR Surgical in the fourth quarter valued at about $292,000. Counterpoint Mutual Funds LLC bought a new position in STAAR Surgical in the fourth quarter worth about $298,000. Finally, HighTower Advisors LLC raised its holdings in STAAR Surgical by 42.6% in the fourth quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC now owns 12,956 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock worth $315,000 after purchasing an additional 3,871 shares in the last quarter. 96.70% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts recently weighed in on the company. Needham & Company LLC restated a “hold” rating on shares of STAAR Surgical in a research note on Thursday, February 27th. Wells Fargo & Company assumed coverage on STAAR Surgical in a research note on Monday, April 21st. They set an “equal weight” rating and a $17.00 price target on the stock. StockNews.com lowered shares of STAAR Surgical from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. BTIG Research cut shares of STAAR Surgical from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 12th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group lowered shares of STAAR Surgical from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 12th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating and one has assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, STAAR Surgical currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $24.25.

Insider Activity at STAAR Surgical

In related news, major shareholder Broadwood Partners, L.P. purchased 108,720 shares of STAAR Surgical stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 20th. The stock was bought at an average cost of $17.96 per share, for a total transaction of $1,952,611.20. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 12,182,995 shares in the company, valued at $218,806,590.20. The trade was a 0.90 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Insiders acquired 1,742,581 shares of company stock worth $28,407,543 over the last three months. Company insiders own 1.00% of the company’s stock.

STAAR Surgical Trading Up 3.8 %

Shares of NASDAQ STAA opened at $19.03 on Friday. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $17.38 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $22.38. The stock has a market cap of $938.65 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -46.41 and a beta of 0.75. STAAR Surgical has a 12 month low of $13.50 and a 12 month high of $49.86.

STAAR Surgical Company Profile

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.