Bausch + Lomb (NYSE:BLCO) Cut to Neutral at Citigroup

Citigroup cut shares of Bausch + Lomb (NYSE:BLCO) from a buy rating to a neutral rating in a research report released on Wednesday morning, MarketBeat.com reports. They currently have $22.00 target price on the stock, down from their prior target price of $24.00.

Several other research firms have also weighed in on BLCO. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on shares of Bausch + Lomb from $23.00 to $26.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price target on shares of Bausch + Lomb from $16.00 to $19.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, September 23rd. Royal Bank of Canada raised their price objective on Bausch + Lomb from $20.00 to $23.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 22nd. Morgan Stanley lowered Bausch + Lomb from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and set a $19.00 target price on the stock. in a report on Monday, December 2nd. Finally, Evercore ISI raised Bausch + Lomb from an “in-line” rating to an “outperform” rating and raised their price target for the stock from $19.00 to $25.00 in a research report on Tuesday, October 15th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $20.58.

Bausch + Lomb Trading Down 0.1 %

BLCO opened at $18.60 on Wednesday. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $19.87 and a 200 day simple moving average of $17.50. Bausch + Lomb has a fifty-two week low of $13.16 and a fifty-two week high of $21.69. The company has a market cap of $6.55 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -17.71, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.74 and a beta of 0.43. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.69, a current ratio of 1.57 and a quick ratio of 0.95.

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

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Bausch + Lomb

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Blue Trust Inc. raised its position in Bausch + Lomb by 14,052.2% during the second quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 3,255 shares of the company’s stock worth $47,000 after acquiring an additional 3,232 shares in the last quarter. Fore Capital LLC increased its stake in shares of Bausch + Lomb by 90.2% during 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 during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its holdings in shares of 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 purchasing an additional 23,714 shares during the period. Gabelli Funds LLC lifted its stake in Bausch + Lomb by 25.0% in the 2nd 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 during the last quarter. Finally, Marshall Wace LLP bought a new position in Bausch + Lomb during the second quarter worth about $1,911,000. 11.07% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

About Bausch + Lomb

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.