Cooper Companies (NASDAQ:COO) Shares Gap Down Following Analyst Downgrade

The Cooper Companies, Inc. (NASDAQ:COO)’s share price gapped down prior to trading on Friday after Citigroup lowered their price target on the stock from $116.00 to $115.00. The stock had previously closed at $103.23, but opened at $99.39. Citigroup currently has a buy rating on the stock. Cooper Companies shares last traded at $99.58, with a volume of 216,192 shares.

COO has been the topic of a number of other reports. Stifel Nicolaus reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $115.00 price target (up from $110.00) on shares of Cooper Companies in a report on Thursday, August 29th. Piper Sandler boosted their target price on shares of Cooper Companies from $115.00 to $120.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, August 29th. Morgan Stanley cut their target price on shares of Cooper Companies from $104.00 to $102.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday. Needham & Company LLC reiterated a “hold” rating on shares of Cooper Companies in a research note on Friday. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on Cooper Companies from $115.00 to $118.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $117.00.

Insider Transactions at Cooper Companies

In related news, CEO Albert G. White III sold 114,992 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, September 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $110.53, for a total value of $12,710,065.76. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 165,273 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $18,267,624.69. This represents a 41.03 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CAO Agostino Ricupati sold 1,601 shares of Cooper Companies stock in a transaction on Tuesday, September 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $108.03, for a total value of $172,956.03. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 4,818 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $520,488.54. This trade represents a 24.94 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 2.00% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Cooper Companies

Institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Point72 Asset Management L.P. grew its stake in Cooper Companies by 480.1% in the second quarter. Point72 Asset Management L.P. now owns 937,806 shares of the medical device company’s stock valued at $81,870,000 after purchasing an additional 776,140 shares during the last quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. raised its stake in shares of Cooper Companies by 23.0% during the 3rd quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 3,950,119 shares of the medical device company’s stock worth $435,856,000 after acquiring an additional 737,726 shares in the last quarter. Magnetar Financial LLC bought a new position in shares of Cooper Companies during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $63,822,000. TD Asset Management Inc purchased a new stake in Cooper Companies during the second quarter valued at approximately $53,045,000. Finally, Impax Asset Management Group plc boosted its stake in Cooper Companies by 31.0% in the second quarter. Impax Asset Management Group plc now owns 2,359,798 shares of the medical device company’s stock valued at $205,511,000 after acquiring an additional 558,886 shares in the last quarter. 24.39% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Cooper Companies Stock Down 4.4 %

The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $104.49 and its 200-day simple moving average is $98.80. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33, a current ratio of 1.99 and a quick ratio of 1.18. The firm has a market capitalization of $19.66 billion, a PE ratio of 50.62, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.28 and a beta of 0.97.

Cooper Companies (NASDAQ:COO) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, December 5th. The medical device company reported $1.04 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.00 by $0.04. The firm had revenue of $1.02 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.03 billion. Cooper Companies had a net margin of 9.45% and a return on equity of 9.08%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 9.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $0.87 earnings per share. On average, analysts forecast that The Cooper Companies, Inc. will post 4.03 EPS for the current year.

About Cooper Companies

The Cooper Companies, Inc, together with its subsidiaries, develops, manufactures, and markets contact lens wearers. The company operates in two segments, CooperVision and CooperSurgical. The CooperVision segment provides spherical lense, including lenses that correct near and farsightedness; and toric and multifocal lenses comprising lenses correcting vision challenges, such as astigmatism, presbyopia, and myopia in the Americas, Europe, Middle East, Africa, and Asia Pacific.