STAAR Surgical (NASDAQ:STAA) Downgraded by Jefferies Financial Group to Hold

STAAR Surgical (NASDAQ:STAA) was downgraded by research analysts at Jefferies Financial Group from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report released on Wednesday, Marketbeat reports.

A number of other equities research analysts have also recently commented on STAA. Needham & Company LLC restated a “hold” rating on shares of STAAR Surgical in a report on Wednesday. Mizuho cut shares of STAAR Surgical from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and reduced their price target for the stock from $45.00 to $17.00 in a report on Wednesday. William Blair cut shares of STAAR Surgical from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a report on Wednesday. Stifel Nicolaus reduced their price target on shares of STAAR Surgical from $38.00 to $20.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday. Finally, BTIG Research cut shares of STAAR Surgical from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating and one has assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $26.86.

STAAR Surgical Trading Down 3.2 %

NASDAQ:STAA opened at $15.96 on Wednesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $786.51 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 36.27 and a beta of 0.62. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $23.57 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $29.15. STAAR Surgical has a 12 month low of $13.50 and a 12 month high of $52.68.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, major shareholder Broadwood Partners, L.P. purchased 8,221 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, January 16th. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $21.50 per share, for a total transaction of $176,751.50. Following the completion of the acquisition, the insider now owns 10,878,007 shares in the company, valued at $233,877,150.50. This trade represents a 0.08 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Over the last ninety days, insiders have bought 105,876 shares of company stock worth $2,487,168. 1.00% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in STAA. Arcadia Investment Management Corp MI purchased a new position in STAAR Surgical during the third quarter worth about $37,000. Quarry LP bought a new stake in STAAR Surgical in the third quarter worth about $50,000. Quest Partners LLC bought a new stake in STAAR Surgical in the third quarter worth about $128,000. Van ECK Associates Corp raised its position in STAAR Surgical by 12.7% in the third quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 3,478 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock worth $129,000 after acquiring an additional 393 shares during the period. Finally, nVerses Capital LLC raised its position in STAAR Surgical by 78.3% in the third quarter. nVerses Capital LLC now owns 4,100 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock worth $152,000 after acquiring an additional 1,800 shares during the period. 96.70% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

About STAAR Surgical

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 implantable Collamer lens product family (ICLs) to treat visual disorders, such as myopia, hyperopia, astigmatism, and presbyopia.