STAAR Surgical (NASDAQ:STAA) Stock Dropped to “Hold” by Wall Street Zen

Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of STAAR Surgical (NASDAQ:STAA) from a buy rating to a hold rating in a research report released on Sunday,Wall Street Zen reports.

STAA has been the topic of a number of other research reports. Weiss Ratings upgraded STAAR Surgical from a “sell (d-)” rating to a “sell (d+)” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 13th. Wedbush dropped their target price on STAAR Surgical from $40.00 to $37.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, August 13th. Piper Sandler restated a “neutral” rating on shares of STAAR Surgical in a report on Thursday, August 13th. Stifel Nicolaus raised STAAR Surgical from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their target price for the stock from $28.00 to $31.00 in a research note on Tuesday, September 29th. Finally, Veritas Investment Research set a $31.00 price target on STAAR Surgical in a report on Tuesday, September 29th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, six have assigned a Hold rating and three have given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $28.45.

STAAR Surgical Stock Performance

STAA stock opened at $21.27 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $1.07 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 303.90 and a beta of 1.17. STAAR Surgical has a 12 month low of $15.59 and a 12 month high of $35.87. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $22.70 and a two-hundred day moving average of $25.51.

STAAR Surgical (NASDAQ:STAA) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, August 12th. The medical instruments supplier reported $0.39 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.22 by $0.17. The business had revenue of $93.53 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $90.60 million. STAAR Surgical had a net margin of 1.13% and a return on equity of 9.05%. The business’s revenue was up 111.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company posted ($0.34) EPS. As a group, equities analysts forecast that STAAR Surgical will post 0.39 earnings per share for the current year.

STAAR Surgical announced that its board has authorized a stock repurchase plan on Thursday, September 24th that permits the company to repurchase $50.00 million in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization permits the medical instruments supplier to reacquire up to 5.2% of its stock through open market purchases. Share repurchase plans are usually an indication that the company’s board believes its stock is undervalued.

Institutional Trading of STAAR Surgical

Several institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in STAA. Caitong International Asset Management Co. Ltd lifted its holdings in STAAR Surgical by 58.2% in the fourth quarter. Caitong International Asset Management Co. Ltd now owns 1,669 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock valued at $39,000 after acquiring an additional 614 shares during the last quarter. Ascentis Independent Advisors acquired a new stake in STAAR Surgical during the first quarter worth $77,000. Angeles Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in STAAR Surgical during the second quarter worth $209,000. Arizona State Retirement System acquired a new stake in STAAR Surgical during the second quarter worth $235,000. Finally, Fifth Third Bancorp raised its position in STAAR Surgical by 2,867.1% in the first quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp now owns 11,008 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock valued at $206,000 after purchasing an additional 10,637 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 96.70% of the company’s stock.

About STAAR Surgical

STAAR Surgical is a medical device company focused on ophthalmic surgery and vision correction. The company develops, manufactures and markets implantable lenses and related products designed to reduce or eliminate dependence on glasses or contact lenses.

Its principal product line is the EVO Visian Implantable Collamer Lens (ICL), a lens implanted inside the eye to correct myopia, with or without astigmatism. Unlike procedures that remove corneal tissue, ICL surgery preserves the eye’s natural lens and is designed to be removable.