Ocular Therapeutix (NASDAQ:OCUL) Given “Buy” Rating at Needham & Company LLC

Ocular Therapeutix (NASDAQ:OCUL)‘s stock had its “buy” rating reiterated by research analysts at Needham & Company LLC in a research report issued to clients and investors on Tuesday, Benzinga reports. They presently have a $18.00 target price on the biopharmaceutical company’s stock. Needham & Company LLC’s price objective points to a potential upside of 134.99% from the company’s current price.

OCUL has been the subject of several other reports. Weiss Ratings reissued a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of Ocular Therapeutix in a research note on Friday, July 17th. Chardan Capital reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $23.00 price objective on shares of Ocular Therapeutix in a research note on Wednesday, September 16th. Robert W. Baird increased their price objective on Ocular Therapeutix from $24.00 to $30.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, June 18th. Zacks Research raised Ocular Therapeutix from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 12th. Finally, HC Wainwright reissued a “buy” rating and set a $25.00 price objective on shares of Ocular Therapeutix in a research note on Wednesday, September 16th. Eleven analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, one has issued a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Ocular Therapeutix presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $25.75.

Ocular Therapeutix Stock Down 20.6%

NASDAQ OCUL opened at $7.66 on Tuesday. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $9.90 and a 200 day moving average price of $9.33. Ocular Therapeutix has a one year low of $6.23 and a one year high of $16.44. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14, a quick ratio of 13.03 and a current ratio of 13.10. The company has a market cap of $1.68 billion, a P/E ratio of -5.39 and a beta of 0.97.

Ocular Therapeutix (NASDAQ:OCUL) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Monday, August 3rd. The biopharmaceutical company reported ($0.35) EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($0.40) by $0.05. Ocular Therapeutix had a negative return on equity of 59.89% and a negative net margin of 579.10%.The firm had revenue of $13.48 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $13.20 million. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned ($0.39) EPS. The firm’s revenue was down .1% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts anticipate that Ocular Therapeutix will post -1.47 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, insider Pravin Dugel sold 21,649 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $10.77, for a total transaction of $233,159.73. Following the transaction, the insider owned 2,525,429 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $27,198,870.33. This represents a 0.85% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards. Also, insider Peter Kaiser sold 3,035 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $10.77, for a total value of $32,686.95. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 264,378 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,847,351.06. The trade was a 1.13% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 29,877 shares of company stock valued at $321,827. Corporate insiders own 3.10% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Ocular Therapeutix

Several hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of OCUL. BlackRock Inc. acquired a new stake in Ocular Therapeutix in the 2nd quarter valued at about $190,278,000. Commodore Capital LP acquired a new stake in Ocular Therapeutix in the 1st quarter valued at about $21,810,000. Readystate Asset Management LP acquired a new stake in Ocular Therapeutix in the 1st quarter valued at about $7,484,000. Defilade Capital Management L.P. raised its position in Ocular Therapeutix by 118.2% in the 1st quarter. Defilade Capital Management L.P. now owns 1,487,645 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $12,600,000 after purchasing an additional 805,982 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Spruce Street Capital LP acquired a new stake in Ocular Therapeutix in the 4th quarter valued at about $9,518,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 59.21% of the company’s stock.

About Ocular Therapeutix

Ocular Therapeutix, Inc is a biopharmaceutical company focused on developing and commercializing therapies for diseases and conditions affecting the eye. The company uses its proprietary hydrogel-based technology to design sustained-release treatments intended to deliver medication to ocular tissues over extended periods and potentially reduce the need for frequent eye drops or injections.

Its commercial product, Dextenza, is a resorbable intracanalicular insert that delivers dexamethasone to the ocular surface for the treatment of inflammation and pain following ophthalmic surgery.