Lazard Asset Management LLC Decreases Holdings in Owens & Minor, Inc. (NYSE:OMI)

Lazard Asset Management LLC lessened its stake in Owens & Minor, Inc. (NYSE:OMI) by 30.7% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 5,382 shares of the company’s stock after selling 2,389 shares during the period. Lazard Asset Management LLC’s holdings in Owens & Minor were worth $69,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Coliseum Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Owens & Minor by 31.3% during the 4th quarter. Coliseum Capital Management LLC now owns 4,785,964 shares of the company’s stock valued at $62,553,000 after buying an additional 1,141,483 shares in the last quarter. Freestone Grove Partners LP purchased a new stake in Owens & Minor during the 4th quarter valued at $5,125,000. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its position in shares of Owens & Minor by 13.6% during the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 2,305,043 shares of the company’s stock valued at $30,127,000 after buying an additional 276,807 shares during the last quarter. Deutsche Bank AG increased its holdings in Owens & Minor by 77.0% in the 4th quarter. Deutsche Bank AG now owns 495,111 shares of the company’s stock worth $6,471,000 after buying an additional 215,455 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank purchased a new position in Owens & Minor in the 4th quarter worth about $2,465,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 98.04% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have commented on the stock. UBS Group cut their target price on shares of Owens & Minor from $25.00 to $13.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. Robert W. Baird lifted their price objective on Owens & Minor from $10.00 to $11.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, March 3rd. Citigroup reduced their price objective on Owens & Minor from $13.00 to $11.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, April 17th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their target price on Owens & Minor from $14.00 to $10.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, March 10th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $12.50.

Insider Buying and Selling at Owens & Minor

In other Owens & Minor news, major shareholder Coliseum Capital Management, L acquired 1,738,511 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 28th. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $9.39 per share, for a total transaction of $16,324,618.29. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 9,469,698 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $88,920,464.22. The trade was a 22.49% increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Insiders have bought 2,718,412 shares of company stock valued at $24,495,308 over the last 90 days. 3.69% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Owens & Minor Price Performance

Shares of Owens & Minor stock opened at $6.45 on Monday. The stock has a market cap of $498.29 million, a P/E ratio of -9.92, a P/E/G ratio of 0.20 and a beta of 1.38. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.11, a quick ratio of 0.45 and a current ratio of 1.09. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $7.61 and its 200 day moving average is $10.36. Owens & Minor, Inc. has a one year low of $6.07 and a one year high of $17.78.

Owens & Minor (NYSE:OMI) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Saturday, May 10th. The company reported $0.23 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.20 by $0.03. Owens & Minor had a positive return on equity of 14.60% and a negative net margin of 0.46%. Owens & Minor’s quarterly revenue was up .7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $0.19 EPS. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Owens & Minor, Inc. will post 1.51 earnings per share for the current year.

Owens & Minor declared that its Board of Directors has authorized a share buyback program on Friday, February 28th that authorizes the company to buyback $100.00 million in shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the company to buy up to 13.6% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are usually an indication that the company’s board believes its shares are undervalued.

Owens & Minor Profile

Owens & Minor, Inc is a healthcare solutions company, which engages in the product manufacturing and delivery, home health supply, and perioperative services to support care through the hospital and into the home. It operates through the Products and Healthcare Services, and Patient Direct segments.