STAAR Surgical (NASDAQ:STAA) Stake Lessened by Texas Permanent School Fund Corp

Texas Permanent School Fund Corp trimmed its stake in shares of STAAR Surgical (NASDAQ:STAA) by 14.2% during the second quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 36,529 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock after selling 6,048 shares during the quarter. Texas Permanent School Fund Corp owned about 0.07% of STAAR Surgical worth $1,739,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Broadwood Capital Inc. grew its holdings in shares of STAAR Surgical by 13.7% in the 4th quarter. Broadwood Capital Inc. now owns 10,537,835 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock worth $328,886,000 after acquiring an additional 1,273,408 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of STAAR Surgical by 0.8% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 5,468,710 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock valued at $170,678,000 after acquiring an additional 43,083 shares during the last quarter. Defender Capital LLC. raised its position in shares of STAAR Surgical by 1.1% in the first quarter. Defender Capital LLC. now owns 730,387 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock valued at $27,959,000 after purchasing an additional 7,855 shares during the period. Yunqi Capital Ltd boosted its holdings in STAAR Surgical by 162.0% during the first quarter. Yunqi Capital Ltd now owns 515,300 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock valued at $19,726,000 after acquiring an additional 318,600 shares during the period. Finally, Norges Bank acquired a new stake in STAAR Surgical in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $13,615,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 96.70% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other STAAR Surgical news, Director Arthur C. Butcher purchased 1,315 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 12th. The stock was bought at an average cost of $37.99 per share, for a total transaction of $49,956.85. Following the purchase, the director now directly owns 4,208 shares in the company, valued at $159,861.92. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Insiders own 1.00% of the company’s stock.

STAAR Surgical Stock Down 2.5 %

NASDAQ STAA opened at $31.39 on Thursday. The company has a market cap of $1.54 billion, a PE ratio of 101.26 and a beta of 0.58. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $37.20 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $40.53. STAAR Surgical has a 52 week low of $26.66 and a 52 week high of $52.68.

STAAR Surgical (NASDAQ:STAA) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, August 7th. The medical instruments supplier reported $0.15 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.24 by ($0.09). STAAR Surgical had a return on equity of 5.60% and a net margin of 4.99%. The company had revenue of $99.01 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $95.22 million. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $0.23 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.3% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that STAAR Surgical will post 0.17 EPS for the current year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

STAA has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Needham & Company LLC restated a “hold” rating on shares of STAAR Surgical in a research note on Thursday, August 8th. Morgan Stanley downgraded shares of STAAR Surgical from an “equal weight” rating to an “underweight” rating and cut their price target for the company from $50.00 to $37.00 in a research report on Monday, July 15th. BTIG Research boosted their target price on STAAR Surgical from $46.00 to $53.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, July 15th. Stifel Nicolaus lowered their target price on STAAR Surgical from $50.00 to $44.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, August 26th. Finally, Canaccord Genuity Group cut their price target on STAAR Surgical from $43.00 to $41.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, August 8th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $45.57.

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.