STAAR Surgical (NASDAQ:STAA) Downgraded by Benchmark to “Hold”

Benchmark cut shares of STAAR Surgical (NASDAQ:STAA) from a buy rating to a hold rating in a report published on Friday morning, MarketBeat reports.

A number of other brokerages have also recently issued reports on STAA. StockNews.com cut shares of STAAR Surgical from a hold rating to a sell rating in a report on Thursday, September 14th. Canaccord Genuity Group cut shares of STAAR Surgical from a buy rating to a hold rating and cut their target price for the stock from $77.00 to $48.00 in a report on Thursday, August 3rd. Canaccord Genuity Group restated a hold rating and issued a $48.00 price target (down previously from $77.00) on shares of STAAR Surgical in a research note on Thursday, August 3rd. Needham & Company LLC dropped their price target on shares of STAAR Surgical from $75.00 to $58.00 and set a buy rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, August 3rd. Finally, Stephens restated an overweight rating and issued a $57.00 price target on shares of STAAR Surgical in a research note on Monday, August 14th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, STAAR Surgical presently has a consensus rating of Hold and a consensus target price of $59.00.

STAAR Surgical Stock Performance

Shares of STAA stock opened at $42.01 on Friday. STAAR Surgical has a one year low of $40.50 and a one year high of $85.58. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $47.50 and its 200-day simple moving average is $55.78. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.04 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 84.02 and a beta of 1.09.

STAAR Surgical (NASDAQ:STAA) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, August 2nd. The medical instruments supplier reported $0.23 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.19 by $0.04. STAAR Surgical had a net margin of 8.14% and a return on equity of 8.37%. The firm had revenue of $92.31 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $93.04 million. As a group, research analysts forecast that STAAR Surgical will post 0.52 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity at STAAR Surgical

In other STAAR Surgical news, major shareholder Broadwood Partners, L.P. bought 20,144 shares of STAAR Surgical stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, September 5th. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $41.87 per share, for a total transaction of $843,429.28. Following the completion of the acquisition, the insider now owns 8,803,226 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $368,591,072.62. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. In other STAAR Surgical news, major shareholder Broadwood Partners, L.P. bought 20,144 shares of STAAR Surgical stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, September 5th. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $41.87 per share, for a total transaction of $843,429.28. Following the completion of the acquisition, the insider now owns 8,803,226 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $368,591,072.62. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, Director Aimee S. Weisner bought 2,000 shares of STAAR Surgical stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 7th. The shares were acquired at an average price of $48.72 per share, with a total value of $97,440.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director now directly owns 5,417 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $263,916.24. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Insiders have purchased 83,018 shares of company stock worth $3,452,531 over the last quarter. 1.10% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On STAAR Surgical

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Raymond James & Associates boosted its stake in STAAR Surgical by 25.7% in the 4th quarter. Raymond James & Associates now owns 19,318 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock worth $938,000 after purchasing an additional 3,945 shares during the period. Jupiter Asset Management Ltd. purchased a new position in shares of STAAR Surgical during the 1st quarter valued at $1,544,000. Victory Capital Management Inc. grew its holdings in shares of STAAR Surgical by 2.9% during the 4th quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 104,938 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock valued at $5,322,000 after acquiring an additional 3,003 shares in the last quarter. Sit Investment Associates Inc. grew its holdings in shares of STAAR Surgical by 7.5% during the 4th quarter. Sit Investment Associates Inc. now owns 31,830 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock valued at $1,545,000 after acquiring an additional 2,215 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Dark Forest Capital Management LP grew its holdings in shares of STAAR Surgical by 12,057.5% during the 4th quarter. Dark Forest Capital Management LP now owns 9,726 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock valued at $472,000 after acquiring an additional 9,646 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 96.70% of the company’s stock.

STAAR Surgical Company Profile

STAAR Surgical Company, together with its subsidiaries, designs, develops, manufactures, markets, and sells implantable lenses for the eye, and companion delivery systems to deliver the lenses into the eye. The company provides Visian implantable Collamer lens product family (ICLs) to treat visual disorders, such as myopia, hyperopia, astigmatism, and presbyopia; and Hyperopic ICL, which treats far-sightedness.