Ocular Therapeutix’s (OCUL) “Buy” Rating Reiterated at HC Wainwright

Ocular Therapeutix (NASDAQ:OCUL)‘s stock had its “buy” rating restated by equities research analysts at HC Wainwright in a research note issued to investors on Wednesday, Benzinga reports. They presently have a $25.00 price target on the biopharmaceutical company’s stock. HC Wainwright’s target price points to a potential upside of 145.34% from the stock’s current price.

Other analysts also recently issued research reports about the company. Chardan Capital reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $23.00 price objective on shares of Ocular Therapeutix in a research note on Tuesday, August 4th. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Ocular Therapeutix from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, August 8th. Weiss Ratings restated a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of Ocular Therapeutix in a research report on Friday, July 17th. Robert W. Baird increased 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. Finally, Zacks Research raised shares of Ocular Therapeutix from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 12th. Eleven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, one has assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Ocular Therapeutix presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $25.75.

Ocular Therapeutix Trading Down 4.9%

Shares of NASDAQ:OCUL opened at $10.19 on Wednesday. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $9.90 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $9.36. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.24 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -7.18 and a beta of 0.97. Ocular Therapeutix has a 52-week low of $6.23 and a 52-week 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.

Ocular Therapeutix (NASDAQ:OCUL) last issued its earnings results on Monday, August 3rd. The biopharmaceutical company reported ($0.35) earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.40) by $0.05. The firm had revenue of $13.47 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $13.20 million. Ocular Therapeutix had a negative net margin of 579.10% and a negative return on equity of 59.89%. Ocular Therapeutix’s revenue for the quarter was down .1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned ($0.39) earnings per share. Analysts expect that Ocular Therapeutix will post -1.47 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Ocular Therapeutix news, insider Pravin Dugel sold 21,649 shares of Ocular Therapeutix stock in a transaction on Monday, August 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $10.77, for a total transaction of $233,159.73. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 2,525,429 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $27,198,870.33. The trade was a 0.85% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at 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 company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, August 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $10.77, for a total value of $32,686.95. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 264,378 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,847,351.06. This represents a 1.13% 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 have sold a total of 29,877 shares of company stock valued at $321,827 over the last quarter. 3.10% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. BlackRock Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Ocular Therapeutix in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $190,278,000. Commodore Capital LP purchased a new position in Ocular Therapeutix during the first quarter valued at approximately $21,810,000. Readystate Asset Management LP purchased a new position in Ocular Therapeutix during the first quarter valued at approximately $7,484,000. Defilade Capital Management L.P. raised its stake in Ocular Therapeutix by 118.2% in the first quarter. Defilade Capital Management L.P. now owns 1,487,645 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $12,600,000 after buying an additional 805,982 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Spruce Street Capital LP bought a new position in Ocular Therapeutix in the fourth quarter worth approximately $9,518,000. 59.21% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.