Gabelli Funds LLC Makes New Investment in STAAR Surgical Company $STAA

Gabelli Funds LLC acquired a new position in shares of STAAR Surgical Company (NASDAQ:STAA) during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund acquired 216,185 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock, valued at approximately $5,809,000.

Other large investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. grew its position in STAAR Surgical by 4.5% during the first quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 29,390 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock worth $518,000 after buying an additional 1,267 shares in the last quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. raised its holdings in STAAR Surgical by 33.4% in the 1st quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 544,843 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock valued at $9,606,000 after acquiring an additional 136,390 shares in the last quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC lifted its position in shares of STAAR Surgical by 11.6% in the 1st quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC now owns 123,347 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock worth $2,175,000 after acquiring an additional 12,841 shares during the period. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of STAAR Surgical by 691.0% in the 2nd quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 3,607 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock worth $61,000 after acquiring an additional 3,151 shares during the period. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of STAAR Surgical by 0.3% during the 2nd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,192,821 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock worth $20,018,000 after purchasing an additional 3,335 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 96.70% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts recently commented on the company. Stifel Nicolaus cut their target price on STAAR Surgical from $19.00 to $18.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, March 4th. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “sell (d)” rating on shares of STAAR Surgical in a research note on Thursday, January 22nd. Wedbush assumed coverage on shares of STAAR Surgical in a report on Tuesday, February 3rd. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $26.00 price target on the stock. Morgan Stanley began coverage on shares of STAAR Surgical in a research note on Friday, January 16th. They issued an “underweight” rating and a $13.00 price objective for the company. Finally, Canaccord Genuity Group reduced their price objective on shares of STAAR Surgical from $30.75 to $22.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, January 15th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating, nine have assigned a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, STAAR Surgical currently has a consensus rating of “Reduce” and a consensus target price of $18.94.

STAAR Surgical Trading Down 0.8%

Shares of STAA opened at $18.32 on Tuesday. The stock has a market cap of $907.02 million, a PE ratio of -11.24 and a beta of 1.04. STAAR Surgical Company has a 1 year low of $14.69 and a 1 year high of $30.81. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $19.58 and a 200-day simple moving average of $23.93.

STAAR Surgical (NASDAQ:STAA) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, March 3rd. The medical instruments supplier reported ($0.37) EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.14 by ($0.51). STAAR Surgical had a negative net margin of 33.60% and a negative return on equity of 10.03%. The company had revenue of $57.80 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $75.54 million. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 18.0% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that STAAR Surgical Company will post -1.14 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In related news, major shareholder Broadwood Partners, L.P. acquired 336,946 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, January 6th. The stock was bought at an average cost of $21.62 per share, with a total value of $7,284,772.52. Following the completion of the acquisition, the insider owned 15,356,437 shares in the company, valued at $332,006,167.94. The trade was a 2.24% increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Insiders acquired 434,138 shares of company stock worth $9,424,176 over the last three months. 0.59% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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 implantable Collamer lens product family (ICLs) to treat visual disorders, such as myopia, hyperopia, astigmatism, and presbyopia. It markets its products to health care providers, including ophthalmic surgeons, vision and surgical centers, hospitals, government facilities, and distributors, as well as products are primarily used by ophthalmologists.