StockNews.com Downgrades Boston Scientific (NYSE:BSX) to Hold

Boston Scientific (NYSE:BSX) was downgraded by research analysts at StockNews.com from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report released on Saturday.

A number of other analysts have also commented on BSX. Royal Bank of Canada upped their price objective on shares of Boston Scientific from $105.00 to $116.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 6th. Argus set a $130.00 price target on shares of Boston Scientific in a research report on Tuesday, February 18th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upgraded shares of Boston Scientific from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $108.00 price objective on the stock in a research report on Friday, January 10th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their target price on Boston Scientific from $100.00 to $110.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, December 16th. Finally, Morgan Stanley lifted their price target on Boston Scientific from $100.00 to $120.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, February 6th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-one have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Boston Scientific presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $108.91.

Boston Scientific Trading Down 1.6 %

Shares of NYSE:BSX opened at $99.15 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.41, a quick ratio of 1.02 and a current ratio of 1.08. The stock has a market capitalization of $146.33 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 79.32, a PEG ratio of 2.79 and a beta of 0.80. Boston Scientific has a 1-year low of $65.52 and a 1-year high of $107.17. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $100.45 and a 200 day moving average price of $91.10.

Boston Scientific (NYSE:BSX) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 5th. The medical equipment provider reported $0.70 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.65 by $0.05. Boston Scientific had a return on equity of 17.80% and a net margin of 11.07%. On average, research analysts anticipate that Boston Scientific will post 2.85 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Boston Scientific news, EVP Arthur C. Butcher sold 17,313 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $101.80, for a total transaction of $1,762,463.40. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 5,502 shares in the company, valued at $560,103.60. This represents a 75.88 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, EVP John Bradley Sorenson sold 1,201 shares of Boston Scientific stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $106.31, for a total value of $127,678.31. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 25,443 shares in the company, valued at $2,704,845.33. The trade was a 4.51 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 137,322 shares of company stock valued at $14,321,068 over the last three months. 0.50% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Boston Scientific

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in BSX. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of Boston Scientific by 1.2% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 132,890,784 shares of the medical equipment provider’s stock worth $11,869,805,000 after acquiring an additional 1,600,062 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp boosted its holdings in Boston Scientific by 2.3% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 62,846,328 shares of the medical equipment provider’s stock valued at $5,266,522,000 after purchasing an additional 1,389,172 shares during the period. Wellington Management Group LLP grew its position in Boston Scientific by 10.2% in the 4th quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 36,165,399 shares of the medical equipment provider’s stock worth $3,230,293,000 after purchasing an additional 3,344,571 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Boston Scientific by 3.5% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 30,626,170 shares of the medical equipment provider’s stock worth $2,729,371,000 after purchasing an additional 1,041,329 shares during the period. Finally, Capital World Investors raised its position in shares of Boston Scientific by 28.7% during the fourth quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 27,899,903 shares of the medical equipment provider’s stock valued at $2,492,041,000 after buying an additional 6,216,199 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 89.07% of the company’s stock.

Boston Scientific Company Profile

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.