Bausch + Lomb Corporation (NYSE:BLCO) Receives Average Recommendation of “Hold” from Analysts

Bausch + Lomb Corporation (NYSE:BLCO) has been assigned an average rating of “Hold” from the fourteen research firms that are presently covering the stock, MarketBeat.com reports. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company. The average twelve-month price target among analysts that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $17.9167.

BLCO has been the topic of several recent research reports. Weiss Ratings restated a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of Bausch + Lomb in a report on Monday, April 20th. Barclays upped their price target on Bausch + Lomb from $17.00 to $20.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, February 19th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft set a $16.00 price target on Bausch + Lomb in a report on Thursday, April 30th. Wall Street Zen upgraded Bausch + Lomb from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Saturday, April 18th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on Bausch + Lomb from $17.00 to $18.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, February 19th.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Tudor Investment Corp ET AL purchased a new position in shares of Bausch + Lomb in the 3rd quarter valued at about $2,249,000. Goldentree Asset Management LP increased its holdings in shares of Bausch + Lomb by 3.0% in the 3rd quarter. Goldentree Asset Management LP now owns 2,660,508 shares of the company’s stock valued at $40,002,000 after acquiring an additional 77,323 shares during the last quarter. Compass Rose Asset Management LP increased its holdings in shares of Bausch + Lomb by 22.0% in the 3rd quarter. Compass Rose Asset Management LP now owns 1,000,000 shares of the company’s stock valued at $15,070,000 after acquiring an additional 180,000 shares during the last quarter. Oaktree Capital Management LP increased its holdings in shares of Bausch + Lomb by 28.7% in the 3rd quarter. Oaktree Capital Management LP now owns 3,245,439 shares of the company’s stock valued at $48,909,000 after acquiring an additional 724,194 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Knights of Columbus Asset Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Bausch + Lomb in the 4th quarter valued at about $605,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 11.07% of the company’s stock.

Bausch + Lomb Price Performance

Shares of NYSE BLCO opened at $15.09 on Friday. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $15.97 and its two-hundred day moving average is $16.59. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.78, a current ratio of 1.53 and a quick ratio of 0.99. Bausch + Lomb has a 1-year low of $11.44 and a 1-year high of $18.92. The company has a market cap of $5.39 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -24.33, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.47 and a beta of 0.58.

Bausch + Lomb (NYSE:BLCO) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 29th. The company reported $0.08 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.06 by $0.02. Bausch + Lomb had a positive return on equity of 3.60% and a negative net margin of 4.21%.The company had revenue of $1.24 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.22 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned ($0.07) EPS. Bausch + Lomb’s revenue was up 9.4% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts forecast that Bausch + Lomb will post 0.82 EPS for the current fiscal year.

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.