Ocular Therapeutix (NASDAQ:OCUL) Receives “Buy” Rating from HC Wainwright

Ocular Therapeutix (NASDAQ:OCUL)‘s stock had its “buy” rating restated by equities research analysts at HC Wainwright in a research note issued on Wednesday, Benzinga reports. They currently have a $25.00 price target on the biopharmaceutical company’s stock. HC Wainwright’s price target would suggest a potential upside of 145.34% from the company’s previous close.

Other equities research analysts have also recently issued reports about the company. Robert W. Baird upped their price target on Ocular Therapeutix from $24.00 to $30.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, June 18th. Weiss Ratings restated a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of Ocular Therapeutix in a report on Friday, July 17th. Chardan Capital reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $23.00 target price on shares of Ocular Therapeutix in a research report on Tuesday, August 4th. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Ocular Therapeutix from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, August 8th. Finally, Zacks Research raised shares of Ocular Therapeutix from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 12th. Eleven investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, one has assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Ocular Therapeutix presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $25.75.

Ocular Therapeutix Price Performance

OCUL stock opened at $10.19 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14, a current ratio of 13.10 and a quick ratio of 13.03. Ocular Therapeutix has a 1 year low of $6.23 and a 1 year high of $16.44. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $9.90 and a 200 day moving average of $9.36. The company has a market cap of $2.24 billion, a P/E ratio of -7.18 and a beta of 0.97.

Ocular Therapeutix (NASDAQ:OCUL) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Monday, August 3rd. The biopharmaceutical company reported ($0.35) earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($0.40) by $0.05. Ocular Therapeutix had a negative return on equity of 59.89% and a negative net margin of 579.10%.The business had revenue of $13.47 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $13.20 million. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted ($0.39) EPS. The business’s revenue was down .1% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Ocular Therapeutix will post -1.47 EPS for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, insider Pravin Dugel sold 21,649 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $10.77, for a total value of $233,159.73. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 2,525,429 shares in the company, valued at $27,198,870.33. The trade was a 0.85% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards. Also, insider Jeffrey S. Heier sold 3,296 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $10.78, for a total value of $35,530.88. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 318,326 shares in the company, valued at $3,431,554.28. This trade represents a 1.02% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 29,877 shares of company stock valued at $321,827. Insiders own 3.10% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Ocular Therapeutix

Several institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of OCUL. BlackRock Inc. purchased a new position in Ocular Therapeutix in the 2nd quarter worth about $190,278,000. Summer Road LLC grew its stake in shares of Ocular Therapeutix by 6.9% in the first quarter. Summer Road LLC now owns 11,879,825 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $100,622,000 after acquiring an additional 771,270 shares during the period. Avoro Capital Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of Ocular Therapeutix by 5.1% in the fourth quarter. Avoro Capital Advisors LLC now owns 10,777,777 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $130,842,000 after acquiring an additional 527,777 shares during the period. Octagon Capital Advisors LP raised its holdings in shares of Ocular Therapeutix by 20.7% during the first quarter. Octagon Capital Advisors LP now owns 3,166,600 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $26,821,000 after purchasing an additional 543,000 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Commodore Capital LP purchased a new stake in Ocular Therapeutix in the first quarter worth approximately $21,810,000. 59.21% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

About Ocular Therapeutix

Ocular Therapeutix, Inc is a biopharmaceutical company focused on developing and commercializing therapies for diseases and conditions affecting the eye. The company uses its proprietary hydrogel-based technology to design sustained-release treatments intended to deliver medication to ocular tissues over extended periods and potentially reduce the need for frequent eye drops or injections.

Its commercial product, Dextenza, is a resorbable intracanalicular insert that delivers dexamethasone to the ocular surface for the treatment of inflammation and pain following ophthalmic surgery.