STAAR Surgical Company (NASDAQ:STAA) Given Average Recommendation of “Reduce” by Analysts

Shares of STAAR Surgical Company (NASDAQ:STAA) have been assigned a consensus recommendation of “Reduce” from the eleven research firms that are presently covering the stock, MarketBeat reports. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating and one has given a buy rating to the company. The average 1 year price target among brokers that have covered the stock in the last year is $19.2143.

STAA has been the topic of several research reports. Wedbush began coverage on STAAR Surgical in a research report on Tuesday, February 3rd. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $26.00 target price on the stock. Stifel Nicolaus reduced their price target on STAAR Surgical from $19.00 to $18.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, March 4th. Morgan Stanley assumed coverage on STAAR Surgical in a report on Friday, January 16th. They issued an “underweight” rating and a $13.00 price objective on the stock. Needham & Company LLC reiterated a “hold” rating on shares of STAAR Surgical in a research report on Tuesday, January 6th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company dropped their target price on STAAR Surgical from $30.75 to $16.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, March 5th.

STAAR Surgical Stock Performance

Shares of STAA stock opened at $18.70 on Wednesday. The company has a market capitalization of $925.84 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -11.47 and a beta of 1.05. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $18.32 and a 200 day simple moving average of $22.87. STAAR Surgical has a 52 week low of $14.69 and a 52 week high of $30.81.

STAAR Surgical (NASDAQ:STAA) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, March 3rd. The medical instruments supplier reported ($0.37) earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.14 by ($0.51). The company had revenue of $57.80 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $75.54 million. STAAR Surgical had a negative net margin of 33.60% and a negative return on equity of 10.03%. STAAR Surgical’s quarterly revenue was up 18.0% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts forecast that STAAR Surgical will post -1.14 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other STAAR Surgical news, major shareholder Broadwood Partners, L.P. acquired 336,946 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, January 6th. The stock was acquired at an average price of $21.62 per share, for a total transaction of $7,284,772.52. Following the purchase, the insider directly owned 15,356,437 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $332,006,167.94. This trade represents a 2.24% increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Insiders have bought 1,104,351 shares of company stock worth $21,690,426 over the last 90 days. 0.59% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in STAA. Broadwood Capital Inc. raised its position in shares of STAAR Surgical by 11.1% in the fourth quarter. Broadwood Capital Inc. now owns 15,019,491 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock valued at $346,800,000 after buying an additional 1,500,000 shares in the last quarter. Soleus Capital Management L.P. grew its position in STAAR Surgical by 16.5% during the second quarter. Soleus Capital Management L.P. now owns 2,984,733 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock worth $50,084,000 after buying an additional 421,840 shares in the last quarter. Yunqi Capital Ltd grew its position in STAAR Surgical by 0.3% during the fourth quarter. Yunqi Capital Ltd now owns 2,507,130 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock worth $57,890,000 after buying an additional 7,069 shares in the last quarter. Magnetar Financial LLC increased its stake in STAAR Surgical by 105.3% during the 4th quarter. Magnetar Financial LLC now owns 2,472,390 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock worth $57,087,000 after acquiring an additional 1,268,019 shares during the period. Finally, Goldman Sachs Group Inc. increased its stake in STAAR Surgical by 112.7% during the 4th quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 2,076,743 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock worth $47,952,000 after acquiring an additional 1,100,484 shares during the period. 96.70% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

About STAAR Surgical

STAAR Surgical Company, together with its subsidiaries, designs, develops, manufactures, markets, and sells implantable lenses for the eye, and companion delivery systems to deliver the lenses into the eye. The company provides implantable Collamer lens product family (ICLs) to treat visual disorders, such as myopia, hyperopia, astigmatism, and presbyopia. It markets its products to health care providers, including ophthalmic surgeons, vision and surgical centers, hospitals, government facilities, and distributors, as well as products are primarily used by ophthalmologists.