Ocular Therapeutix (NASDAQ:OCUL) Stock Rating Reaffirmed as Buy by Needham & Company LLC

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

OCUL has been the subject of several other research reports. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of Ocular Therapeutix in a report on Friday, July 17th. Zacks Research upgraded Ocular Therapeutix from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 12th. Robert W. Baird raised their price target on Ocular Therapeutix from $24.00 to $30.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, June 18th. Wall Street Zen upgraded Ocular Therapeutix from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, August 8th. Finally, HC Wainwright reissued a “buy” rating and issued 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 assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Ocular Therapeutix has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $25.75.

Ocular Therapeutix Stock Down 20.6%

OCUL opened at $7.66 on Tuesday. The firm has a market cap of $1.68 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -5.39 and a beta of 0.97. 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 firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $9.90 and its 200-day simple moving average is $9.33. Ocular Therapeutix has a twelve month low of $6.23 and a twelve month high of $16.44.

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

Insider Transactions at Ocular Therapeutix

In other news, insider Jeffrey S. Heier sold 3,296 shares of Ocular Therapeutix stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $10.78, for a total transaction of $35,530.88. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 318,326 shares in the company, valued at $3,431,554.28. The trade was a 1.02% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. 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 Pravin Dugel sold 21,649 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $10.77, for a total transaction of $233,159.73. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 2,525,429 shares in the company, valued at approximately $27,198,870.33. The trade was a 0.85% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. 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. Insiders sold a total of 29,877 shares of company stock worth $321,827 over the last 90 days. 3.10% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Ocular Therapeutix

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Engineers Gate Manager LP acquired a new stake in shares of Ocular Therapeutix in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $401,000. Integrated Wealth Concepts LLC bought a new position in shares of Ocular Therapeutix during the second quarter worth $51,000. NewEdge Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of Ocular Therapeutix by 21.7% in the 2nd quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC now owns 16,725 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $164,000 after buying an additional 2,979 shares during the period. Squarepoint Ops LLC raised its stake in Ocular Therapeutix by 44.4% during the 2nd quarter. Squarepoint Ops LLC now owns 1,415,913 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $13,904,000 after buying an additional 435,156 shares during the period. Finally, Second Line Capital LLC grew its stake in Ocular Therapeutix by 20.9% in the second quarter. Second Line Capital LLC now owns 638,640 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $6,271,000 after acquiring an additional 110,350 shares during the period. Institutional investors 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.