Gabelli Funds LLC Purchases 78,000 Shares of Bausch + Lomb Co. (NYSE:BLCO)

Gabelli Funds LLC boosted its position in shares of Bausch + Lomb Co. (NYSE:BLCO) by 25.0% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 390,000 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 78,000 shares during the period. Gabelli Funds LLC owned about 0.11% of Bausch + Lomb worth $5,663,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its position in Bausch + Lomb by 53.9% in the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 67,690 shares of the company’s stock valued at $984,000 after acquiring an additional 23,714 shares during the last quarter. Fore Capital LLC boosted its stake in shares of Bausch + Lomb by 90.2% during the second quarter. Fore Capital LLC now owns 42,180 shares of the company’s stock valued at $612,000 after purchasing an additional 20,000 shares during the period. Blue Trust Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Bausch + Lomb by 14,052.2% in the second quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 3,255 shares of the company’s stock worth $47,000 after purchasing an additional 3,232 shares during the last quarter. Renaissance Capital LLC increased its stake in Bausch + Lomb by 57.2% in the 2nd quarter. Renaissance Capital LLC now owns 36,286 shares of the company’s stock worth $527,000 after buying an additional 13,210 shares during the period. Finally, Rokos Capital Management LLP bought a new stake in Bausch + Lomb during the 1st quarter valued at about $5,602,000. 11.07% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts have recently commented on the stock. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $20.00 target price on shares of Bausch + Lomb in a research report on Thursday, August 1st. Needham & Company LLC restated a “hold” rating on shares of Bausch + Lomb in a report on Monday, September 16th. Raymond James started coverage on Bausch + Lomb in a report on Wednesday, July 10th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $19.00 target price for the company. Evercore raised their price target on Bausch + Lomb from $15.50 to $17.00 and gave the company an “in-line” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 1st. Finally, HC Wainwright upped their price objective on shares of Bausch + Lomb from $19.00 to $22.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $19.14.

Bausch + Lomb Stock Down 1.4 %

Shares of Bausch + Lomb stock opened at $19.21 on Wednesday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.01, a current ratio of 1.65 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.70. The company has a market cap of $6.76 billion, a P/E ratio of -20.01, a PEG ratio of 1.47 and a beta of 0.46. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $16.58 and its 200-day moving average price is $15.74. Bausch + Lomb Co. has a 52-week low of $13.16 and a 52-week high of $21.00.

Bausch + Lomb (NYSE:BLCO) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 31st. The company reported $0.13 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, hitting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.13. The business had revenue of $1.22 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.17 billion. Bausch + Lomb had a positive return on equity of 3.36% and a negative net margin of 10.15%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 17.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.18 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Bausch + Lomb Co. will post 0.6 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Bausch + Lomb

In other Bausch + Lomb news, CEO Brent L. Saunders purchased 32,250 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 5th. The shares were acquired at an average price of $15.66 per share, for a total transaction of $505,035.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the chief executive officer now owns 595,169 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $9,320,346.54. The acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link.

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.