Bank Julius Baer & Co. Ltd Zurich Sells 86,782 Shares of Boston Scientific Co. (NYSE:BSX)

Bank Julius Baer & Co. Ltd Zurich cut its stake in shares of Boston Scientific Co. (NYSE:BSX) by 31.5% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 188,839 shares of the medical equipment provider’s stock after selling 86,782 shares during the quarter. Bank Julius Baer & Co. Ltd Zurich’s holdings in Boston Scientific were worth $10,917,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of BSX. FMR LLC lifted its stake in shares of Boston Scientific by 6.8% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 125,920,357 shares of the medical equipment provider’s stock valued at $6,648,595,000 after purchasing an additional 8,045,263 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Boston Scientific by 1.2% in the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 123,768,348 shares of the medical equipment provider’s stock valued at $6,534,969,000 after purchasing an additional 1,525,432 shares during the period. Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its stake in shares of Boston Scientific by 5.9% in the 3rd quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 42,076,529 shares of the medical equipment provider’s stock valued at $2,221,641,000 after purchasing an additional 2,336,348 shares during the period. Morgan Stanley lifted its stake in shares of Boston Scientific by 2.3% in the 3rd quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 21,200,339 shares of the medical equipment provider’s stock valued at $1,119,378,000 after purchasing an additional 481,891 shares during the period. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp lifted its stake in shares of Boston Scientific by 0.3% in the 3rd quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 17,207,345 shares of the medical equipment provider’s stock valued at $908,548,000 after purchasing an additional 51,293 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 89.07% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts have recently commented on BSX shares. Needham & Company LLC raised their target price on Boston Scientific from $71.00 to $82.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday. Citigroup raised their price objective on Boston Scientific from $79.00 to $85.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday. Robert W. Baird raised their price objective on Boston Scientific from $79.00 to $84.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday. Argus lifted their target price on Boston Scientific from $69.00 to $80.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 3rd. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective on Boston Scientific from $72.00 to $82.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eighteen have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Boston Scientific has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $75.09.

Boston Scientific Trading Down 0.2 %

BSX stock traded down $0.13 during trading on Friday, hitting $73.13. The company had a trading volume of 8,786,250 shares, compared to its average volume of 6,588,116. The firm has a market capitalization of $107.29 billion, a P/E ratio of 61.61, a PEG ratio of 2.48 and a beta of 0.78. Boston Scientific Co. has a 52-week low of $48.35 and a 52-week high of $74.39. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $67.68 and a 200-day simple moving average of $60.37. The company has a quick ratio of 0.82, a current ratio of 1.32 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.44.

Boston Scientific (NYSE:BSX) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, January 31st. The medical equipment provider reported $0.55 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.51 by $0.04. Boston Scientific had a net margin of 12.06% and a return on equity of 16.63%. The company had revenue of $3.73 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.59 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $0.45 EPS. As a group, research analysts forecast that Boston Scientific Co. will post 2.32 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Boston Scientific news, Director Edward J. Ludwig sold 7,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $65.03, for a total transaction of $455,210.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 41,374 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,690,551.22. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In other news, Director Edward J. Ludwig sold 7,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $65.03, for a total value of $455,210.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 41,374 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,690,551.22. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CFO Daniel J. Brennan sold 13,662 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $65.86, for a total transaction of $899,779.32. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 271,542 shares in the company, valued at $17,883,756.12. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 50,979 shares of company stock worth $3,418,529 in the last three months. Corporate insiders own 0.50% of the company’s stock.

About Boston Scientific

Boston Scientific Corporation develops, manufactures, and markets medical devices for use in various interventional medical specialties worldwide. It operates through two segments, MedSurg and Cardiovascular. The company offers devices to diagnose and treat gastrointestinal and pulmonary conditions, such as resolution clips, biliary stent systems, stents and electrocautery enhanced delivery systems, direct visualization systems, digital catheters, and single-use duodenoscopes; devices to treat urological conditions, including ureteral stents, catheters, baskets, guidewires, sheaths, balloons, single-use digital flexible ureteroscopes, holmium laser systems, artificial urinary sphincter, laser system, fiber, and hydrogel systems; and devices to treat neurological movement disorders and manage chronic pain, such as spinal cord stimulator system, proprietary programming software, radiofrequency generator, indirect decompression systems, practice optimization tools, and deep brain stimulation system.