Align Technology (NASDAQ:ALGN) Stock Gets Downgrade from Robert W. Baird

Align Technology (NASDAQ:ALGN) was downgraded by equities researchers at Robert W. Baird from an “outperform” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note issued to investors on Thursday, MarketBeat.com reports. They presently have a $162.00 target price on the medical equipment provider’s stock. Robert W. Baird’s price objective would indicate a potential upside of 8.48% from the stock’s previous close.

Other equities research analysts have also issued research reports about the company. Weiss Ratings upgraded Align Technology from a “hold (c-)” rating to a “hold (c)” rating in a research note on Friday, October 9th. Zacks Research cut shares of Align Technology from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, July 16th. Evercore downgraded shares of Align Technology from an “outperform” rating to an “in-line” rating and set a $155.00 price objective for the company. in a research report on Monday, October 5th. Stifel Nicolaus dropped their target price on Align Technology from $210.00 to $175.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, October 9th. Finally, Wall Street Zen cut Align Technology from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Saturday, August 1st. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eight have assigned a Buy rating and eight have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Align Technology has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $194.14.

Align Technology Trading Up 3.4%

Shares of ALGN opened at $149.34 on Thursday. The company has a market cap of $10.70 billion, a P/E ratio of 25.97, a P/E/G ratio of 1.54 and a beta of 1.67. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $154.54 and its 200-day simple moving average is $167.32. Align Technology has a twelve month low of $128.65 and a twelve month high of $200.43.

Align Technology (NASDAQ:ALGN) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 29th. The medical equipment provider reported $2.64 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.62 by $0.02. The firm had revenue of $1.06 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.05 billion. Align Technology had a return on equity of 15.86% and a net margin of 9.99%. Align Technology’s quarterly revenue was up 4.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company earned $2.49 EPS. Analysts predict that Align Technology will post 9.36 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. BlackRock Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Align Technology in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $745,370,000. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. raised its holdings in Align Technology by 638.7% in the third quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 4,662,437 shares of the medical equipment provider’s stock worth $629,469,000 after purchasing an additional 4,031,284 shares in the last quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership raised its holdings in Align Technology by 4.9% in the first quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 1,054,633 shares of the medical equipment provider’s stock worth $180,796,000 after purchasing an additional 49,220 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its holdings in Align Technology by 21.3% in the first quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 972,519 shares of the medical equipment provider’s stock worth $166,696,000 after purchasing an additional 170,523 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Senvest Management LLC lifted its position in Align Technology by 8.6% during the first quarter. Senvest Management LLC now owns 754,797 shares of the medical equipment provider’s stock valued at $129,395,000 after buying an additional 59,855 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 88.43% of the company’s stock.

About Align Technology

Align Technology, Inc is a medical device and digital technology company that designs, manufactures and markets products used in orthodontics and restorative dentistry. The company is best known for Invisalign clear aligners, which are custom-made orthodontic devices intended to gradually move patients’ teeth under the supervision of dental professionals.

Align also develops the iTero family of intraoral scanners and related digital imaging systems, which help dental professionals create digital impressions and treatment plans.