Magnetar Financial LLC Makes New Investment in STAAR Surgical Company $STAA

Magnetar Financial LLC acquired a new stake in STAAR Surgical Company (NASDAQ:STAA) during the third quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund acquired 1,204,371 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock, valued at approximately $32,361,000.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Broadwood Capital Inc. increased its position in shares of STAAR Surgical by 8.5% during the second quarter. Broadwood Capital Inc. now owns 13,519,491 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock worth $226,857,000 after acquiring an additional 1,064,227 shares in the last quarter. Soleus Capital Management L.P. lifted its position in STAAR Surgical by 16.5% in the 2nd quarter. Soleus Capital Management L.P. now owns 2,984,733 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock valued at $50,084,000 after acquiring an additional 421,840 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its position in STAAR Surgical by 0.3% in the 2nd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,192,821 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock valued at $20,018,000 after acquiring an additional 3,335 shares in the last quarter. Bank of America Corp DE boosted its stake in STAAR Surgical by 17.1% during the 2nd quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 1,153,895 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock valued at $19,362,000 after purchasing an additional 168,285 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Alpine Associates Management Inc. acquired a new position in STAAR Surgical during the 3rd quarter valued at about $24,535,000. 96.70% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

STAA has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Wedbush initiated coverage on STAAR Surgical in a report on Tuesday, February 3rd. They set a “neutral” rating and a $26.00 price objective for the company. Canaccord Genuity Group cut their target price on STAAR Surgical from $30.75 to $22.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, January 15th. BTIG Research reiterated a “neutral” rating on shares of STAAR Surgical in a report on Tuesday, January 6th. Stifel Nicolaus lowered their price target on STAAR Surgical from $19.00 to $18.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, March 4th. Finally, Morgan Stanley started coverage on STAAR Surgical in a research note on Friday, January 16th. They set an “underweight” rating and a $13.00 price objective on the stock. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating, nine have assigned a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, STAAR Surgical presently has an average rating of “Reduce” and a consensus price target of $18.94.

STAAR Surgical Stock Performance

Shares of STAA stock opened at $17.23 on Wednesday. The company has a market capitalization of $853.06 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -10.57 and a beta of 1.05. STAAR Surgical Company has a 52-week low of $14.69 and a 52-week high of $30.81. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $19.46 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $23.85.

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

Insider Activity at STAAR Surgical

In other STAAR Surgical news, major shareholder Broadwood Partners, L.P. purchased 27,485 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, January 9th. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $22.05 per share, for a total transaction of $606,044.25. Following the completion of the acquisition, the insider owned 15,453,629 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $340,752,519.45. The trade was a 0.18% increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Insiders purchased 434,138 shares of company stock worth $9,424,176 over the last three months. Company insiders own 0.59% of the company’s stock.

STAAR Surgical Profile

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.