Short Interest in Bausch + Lomb Co. (NYSE:BLCO) Decreases By 29.5%

Bausch + Lomb Co. (NYSE:BLCO) saw a large decrease in short interest in February. As of February 15th, there was short interest totalling 1,220,000 shares, a decrease of 29.5% from the January 31st total of 1,730,000 shares. Currently, 3.4% of the company’s stock are sold short. Based on an average trading volume of 580,500 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 2.1 days.

Bausch + Lomb Trading Down 0.9 %

BLCO traded down $0.15 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, reaching $15.69. The stock had a trading volume of 168,405 shares, compared to its average volume of 653,811. The stock has a market capitalization of $5.53 billion, a P/E ratio of -17.25, a P/E/G ratio of 0.85 and a beta of 0.46. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.72, a quick ratio of 1.01 and a current ratio of 1.60. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $17.04 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $18.18. Bausch + Lomb has a 52 week low of $13.16 and a 52 week high of $21.69.

Bausch + Lomb (NYSE:BLCO) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 19th. The company reported $0.25 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.23 by $0.02. Bausch + Lomb had a positive return on equity of 3.35% and a negative net margin of 6.62%. The firm had revenue of $1.28 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.26 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.24 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 9.1% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts predict that Bausch + Lomb will post 0.74 EPS for the current year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Barclays PLC bought a new position in shares of Bausch + Lomb in the 3rd quarter worth $5,797,000. Quadrature Capital Ltd bought a new position in shares of Bausch + Lomb in the 3rd quarter worth $526,000. River Road Asset Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Bausch + Lomb by 4.4% in the 3rd quarter. River Road Asset Management LLC now owns 2,020,414 shares of the company’s stock worth $38,974,000 after purchasing an additional 85,987 shares during the last quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC bought a new position in shares of Bausch + Lomb in the 3rd quarter worth $957,000. Finally, King Street Capital Management L.P. bought a new position in shares of Bausch + Lomb in the 3rd quarter worth $14,122,000. 11.07% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

BLCO has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Bank of America decreased their price target on Bausch + Lomb from $18.00 to $17.00 and set an “underperform” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, February 20th. Morgan Stanley cut Bausch + Lomb from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and set a $19.00 price target for the company. in a report on Monday, December 2nd. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price target on Bausch + Lomb from $26.00 to $24.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, January 16th. Royal Bank of Canada dropped their target price on Bausch + Lomb from $22.00 to $18.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, February 20th. Finally, Citigroup cut Bausch + Lomb from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and dropped their target price for the stock from $24.00 to $22.00 in a report on Wednesday, December 11th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Bausch + Lomb presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $20.00.

Bausch + Lomb Company Profile

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.