Raymond James & Associates Decreases Stake in Bausch + Lomb Co. (NYSE:BLCO)

Raymond James & Associates lowered its position in shares of Bausch + Lomb Co. (NYSE:BLCO) by 2.0% in the third quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 203,101 shares of the company’s stock after selling 4,123 shares during the quarter. Raymond James & Associates owned about 0.06% of Bausch + Lomb worth $3,918,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Blue Trust Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Bausch + Lomb by 14,052.2% during the 2nd quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 3,255 shares of the company’s stock worth $47,000 after purchasing an additional 3,232 shares during the period. Renaissance Capital LLC grew its holdings in shares of Bausch + Lomb by 20.0% during the 3rd quarter. Renaissance Capital LLC now owns 43,560 shares of the company’s stock worth $840,000 after purchasing an additional 7,274 shares during the period. Gabelli Funds LLC grew its holdings in shares of Bausch + Lomb by 3.3% during the 1st quarter. Gabelli Funds LLC now owns 312,000 shares of the company’s stock worth $5,398,000 after purchasing an additional 10,000 shares during the period. Squarepoint Ops LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Bausch + Lomb during the 2nd quarter worth about $173,000. Finally, Fore Capital LLC lifted its position in Bausch + Lomb by 90.2% during the 2nd quarter. Fore Capital LLC now owns 42,180 shares of the company’s stock worth $612,000 after acquiring an additional 20,000 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 11.07% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms recently commented on BLCO. Evercore boosted their price target on Bausch + Lomb from $15.50 to $17.00 and gave the stock an “in-line” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 1st. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price target on Bausch + Lomb from $23.00 to $26.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft boosted their price target on Bausch + Lomb from $14.00 to $18.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 1st. Evercore ISI raised Bausch + Lomb from an “in-line” rating to an “outperform” rating and boosted their price target for the stock from $19.00 to $25.00 in a research report on Tuesday, October 15th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada upped their target price on Bausch + Lomb from $20.00 to $23.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 22nd. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Bausch + Lomb has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $20.91.

Bausch + Lomb Stock Performance

BLCO stock opened at $20.51 on Monday. The company has a current ratio of 1.57, a quick ratio of 1.01 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.69. The firm has a market cap of $7.22 billion, a P/E ratio of -19.53, a P/E/G ratio of 1.90 and a beta of 0.46. Bausch + Lomb Co. has a 12-month low of $13.16 and a 12-month high of $21.69. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $18.61 and its 200 day simple moving average is $16.49.

Bausch + Lomb (NYSE:BLCO) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The company reported $0.17 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.16 by $0.01. The business had revenue of $1.20 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.17 billion. Bausch + Lomb had a positive return on equity of 3.17% and a negative net margin of 7.86%. The business’s revenue was up 18.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.22 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Bausch + Lomb Co. will post 0.59 EPS for the current year.

Bausch + Lomb 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.