Ascent Group LLC Buys 790 Shares of Boston Scientific Co. (NYSE:BSX)

Ascent Group LLC lifted its stake in Boston Scientific Co. (NYSE:BSX) by 11.8% in the second quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 7,480 shares of the medical equipment provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 790 shares during the quarter. Ascent Group LLC’s holdings in Boston Scientific were worth $576,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in BSX. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in Boston Scientific by 1.6% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 127,437,884 shares of the medical equipment provider’s stock valued at $8,728,221,000 after buying an additional 1,988,082 shares during the last quarter. Capital World Investors increased its stake in shares of Boston Scientific by 69.9% in the 1st quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 16,008,085 shares of the medical equipment provider’s stock worth $1,096,394,000 after purchasing an additional 6,588,256 shares in the last quarter. Legal & General Group Plc raised its holdings in Boston Scientific by 2.7% in the 2nd quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 13,922,773 shares of the medical equipment provider’s stock worth $1,072,195,000 after purchasing an additional 360,793 shares during the period. Putnam Investments LLC lifted its position in Boston Scientific by 110.5% during the fourth quarter. Putnam Investments LLC now owns 13,067,570 shares of the medical equipment provider’s stock valued at $755,436,000 after purchasing an additional 6,859,280 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Vontobel Asset Management Inc. grew its holdings in Boston Scientific by 10.2% during the fourth quarter. Vontobel Asset Management Inc. now owns 10,974,569 shares of the medical equipment provider’s stock valued at $668,472,000 after purchasing an additional 1,015,140 shares during the period. 89.07% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Boston Scientific Stock Up 0.5 %

Shares of BSX stock opened at $83.80 on Tuesday. The stock has a market cap of $122.94 billion, a P/E ratio of 70.42, a PEG ratio of 2.78 and a beta of 0.79. Boston Scientific Co. has a 52 week low of $48.35 and a 52 week high of $84.89. The company has a quick ratio of 1.14, a current ratio of 1.61 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.44. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $79.44 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $75.43.

Boston Scientific (NYSE:BSX) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, July 24th. The medical equipment provider reported $0.62 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.58 by $0.04. The firm had revenue of $4.12 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.02 billion. Boston Scientific had a net margin of 12.00% and a return on equity of 16.59%. The business’s revenue was up 14.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $0.53 EPS. Analysts predict that Boston Scientific Co. will post 2.4 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have recently commented on BSX. Barclays raised their price objective on Boston Scientific from $78.00 to $86.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 22nd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on shares of Boston Scientific from $82.00 to $85.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 25th. Royal Bank of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and set a $85.00 price objective on shares of Boston Scientific in a research report on Thursday, July 25th. TD Cowen lifted their target price on shares of Boston Scientific from $77.00 to $86.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 16th. Finally, Raymond James lifted their target price on shares of Boston Scientific from $91.00 to $94.00 and gave the company a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, September 4th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seventeen have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Boston Scientific has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $86.65.

Insider Activity

In other news, EVP Wendy Carruthers sold 6,983 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, August 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $74.12, for a total transaction of $517,579.96. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 40,188 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,978,734.56. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Corporate insiders own 0.50% of the company’s stock.

About Boston Scientific

Boston Scientific Corporation develops, manufactures, and markets medical devices for use in various interventional medical specialties worldwide. It operates through two segments, MedSurg and Cardiovascular. The company offers devices to diagnose and treat gastrointestinal and pulmonary conditions, such as resolution clips, biliary stent systems, stents and electrocautery enhanced delivery systems, direct visualization systems, digital catheters, and single-use duodenoscopes; devices to treat urological conditions, including ureteral stents, catheters, baskets, guidewires, sheaths, balloons, single-use digital flexible ureteroscopes, holmium laser systems, artificial urinary sphincter, laser system, fiber, and hydrogel systems; and devices to treat neurological movement disorders and manage chronic pain, such as spinal cord stimulator system, proprietary programming software, radiofrequency generator, indirect decompression systems, practice optimization tools, and deep brain stimulation system.