Bausch + Lomb (NYSE:BLCO) Rating Increased to Overweight at Morgan Stanley

Morgan Stanley upgraded shares of Bausch + Lomb (NYSE:BLCO) from an equal weight rating to an overweight rating in a research note published on Monday, MarketBeat.com reports. They currently have $18.00 price objective on the stock, up from their prior price objective of $16.00.

A number of other equities research analysts have also recently commented on the stock. Evercore ISI raised their price objective on shares of Bausch + Lomb from $16.50 to $17.00 and gave the stock an in-line rating in a research note on Thursday, April 4th. Evercore lowered their price objective on Bausch + Lomb from $17.00 to $15.00 and set an in-line rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, May 2nd. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on Bausch + Lomb from $21.00 to $23.00 and gave the company an overweight rating in a research note on Thursday, February 22nd. Royal Bank of Canada cut their target price on shares of Bausch + Lomb from $20.00 to $18.00 and set an outperform rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, April 22nd. Finally, HC Wainwright restated a buy rating and issued a $20.00 target price on shares of Bausch + Lomb in a research note on Thursday, May 2nd. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and an average target price of $19.45.

Bausch + Lomb Stock Up 6.3 %

BLCO opened at $14.45 on Monday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.03, a current ratio of 1.70 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.68. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $15.76 and its 200 day simple moving average is $15.58. Bausch + Lomb has a 12 month low of $13.16 and a 12 month high of $21.95.

Bausch + Lomb (NYSE:BLCO) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, May 1st. The company reported $0.07 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.09 by ($0.02). Bausch + Lomb had a negative net margin of 7.81% and a positive return on equity of 3.60%. The business had revenue of $1.10 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.06 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $0.10 EPS. Bausch + Lomb’s revenue was up 18.0% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts expect that Bausch + Lomb will post 0.66 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Bausch + Lomb

Hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the company. Black Swift Group LLC acquired a new position in shares of Bausch + Lomb during the third quarter worth $170,000. Jump Financial LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Bausch + Lomb in the third quarter valued at approximately $255,000. Renaissance Capital LLC increased its holdings in shares of Bausch + Lomb by 27.3% during the fourth quarter. Renaissance Capital LLC now owns 22,407 shares of the company’s stock valued at $382,000 after purchasing an additional 4,801 shares during the period. Quadrature Capital Ltd bought a new stake in shares of Bausch + Lomb during the 3rd quarter worth about $466,000. Finally, Allianz Asset Management GmbH bought a new stake in shares of Bausch + Lomb in the 4th quarter worth $1,706,000. 11.07% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.