Short Interest in Bausch + Lomb Co. (NYSE:BLCO) Increases By 11.7%

Bausch + Lomb Co. (NYSE:BLCO) saw a significant increase in short interest in the month of November. As of November 30th, there was short interest totalling 1,080,000 shares, an increase of 11.7% from the November 15th total of 967,300 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 648,800 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 1.7 days. Currently, 3.1% of the shares of the company are short sold.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Evercore ISI upgraded Bausch + Lomb from an “in-line” rating to an “outperform” rating and increased their target price for the stock from $19.00 to $25.00 in a research note on Tuesday, October 15th. Royal Bank of Canada increased their price objective on Bausch + Lomb from $20.00 to $23.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 22nd. Bank of America reissued an “underperform” rating and issued a $18.00 target price on shares of Bausch + Lomb in a research report on Thursday. Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed a “hold” rating on shares of Bausch + Lomb in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. Finally, Citigroup cut shares of Bausch + Lomb from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and dropped their price objective for the stock from $24.00 to $22.00 in a research note on Wednesday. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $20.58.

Bausch + Lomb Stock Performance

NYSE:BLCO opened at $18.60 on Friday. Bausch + Lomb has a twelve month low of $13.16 and a twelve month high of $21.69. The company has a quick ratio of 0.95, a current ratio of 1.57 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.69. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $19.87 and its 200 day simple moving average is $17.52. The firm has a market capitalization of $6.55 billion, a PE ratio of -17.71, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.74 and a beta of 0.43.

Bausch + Lomb (NYSE:BLCO) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The company reported $0.17 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.16 by $0.01. The firm had revenue of $1.20 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.17 billion. Bausch + Lomb had a negative net margin of 7.86% and a positive return on equity of 3.17%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 18.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $0.22 earnings per share. On average, analysts anticipate that Bausch + Lomb will post 0.6 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Trading of Bausch + Lomb

Hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Blue Trust Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Bausch + Lomb by 14,052.2% in the 2nd quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 3,255 shares of the company’s stock valued at $47,000 after acquiring an additional 3,232 shares during the last quarter. Fore Capital LLC increased its holdings in Bausch + Lomb by 90.2% in the 2nd quarter. Fore Capital LLC now owns 42,180 shares of the company’s stock worth $612,000 after purchasing an additional 20,000 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its position in Bausch + Lomb by 53.9% in the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 67,690 shares of the company’s stock valued at $984,000 after purchasing an additional 23,714 shares during the last quarter. Gabelli Funds LLC boosted its stake in shares of Bausch + Lomb by 25.0% during the second quarter. Gabelli Funds LLC now owns 390,000 shares of the company’s stock valued at $5,663,000 after purchasing an additional 78,000 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Marshall Wace LLP bought a new stake in shares of Bausch + Lomb during the second quarter worth about $1,911,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 11.07% of the company’s stock.

Bausch + Lomb Company 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.