Cooper Companies (NASDAQ:COO) Given "Hold" Rating at Needham & Company LLC

Needham & Company LLC reissued their hold rating on shares of Cooper Companies (NASDAQ:COO - Free Report) in a report published on Friday morning,Benzinga reports.

Several other research firms also recently commented on COO. Piper Sandler lifted their price objective on shares of Cooper Companies from $115.00 to $120.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Thursday, August 29th. Robert W. Baird lifted their price target on Cooper Companies from $118.00 to $125.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Thursday, August 29th. Morgan Stanley increased their price objective on Cooper Companies from $95.00 to $104.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a report on Tuesday, September 10th. Stifel Nicolaus reaffirmed a "buy" rating and set a $115.00 target price (up previously from $110.00) on shares of Cooper Companies in a report on Thursday, August 29th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on Cooper Companies from $110.00 to $115.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Thursday, August 29th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $117.00.

Cooper Companies Stock Down 4.4 %

COO stock traded down $4.53 during trading on Friday, hitting $98.70. 3,694,024 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,287,907. The firm's 50 day moving average is $104.49 and its two-hundred day moving average is $98.79. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33, a current ratio of 1.99 and a quick ratio of 1.18. Cooper Companies has a 1 year low of $82.69 and a 1 year high of $112.38. The stock has a market cap of $19.66 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 50.62, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.28 and a beta of 0.97.

Cooper Companies (NASDAQ:COO - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, December 5th. The medical device company reported $1.04 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.00 by $0.04. Cooper Companies had a return on equity of 9.08% and a net margin of 9.45%. The firm had revenue of $1.02 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.03 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $0.87 EPS. The business's revenue for the quarter was up 9.8% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Cooper Companies will post 4.03 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity

In other news, CAO Agostino Ricupati sold 1,601 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, September 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $108.03, for a total transaction of $172,956.03. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 4,818 shares in the company, valued at $520,488.54. This trade represents a 24.94 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Albert G. White III sold 114,992 shares of Cooper Companies stock in a transaction on Thursday, September 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $110.53, for a total transaction of $12,710,065.76. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 165,273 shares in the company, valued at $18,267,624.69. This represents a 41.03 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 2.00% of the company's stock.

Institutional Trading of Cooper Companies

A number of institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Point72 Asset Management L.P. grew its stake in Cooper Companies by 480.1% during the 2nd quarter. Point72 Asset Management L.P. now owns 937,806 shares of the medical device company's stock valued at $81,870,000 after acquiring an additional 776,140 shares in the last quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. grew its position in shares of Cooper Companies by 23.0% in the third quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 3,950,119 shares of the medical device company's stock valued at $435,856,000 after purchasing an additional 737,726 shares in the last quarter. Magnetar Financial LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Cooper Companies in the second quarter valued at approximately $63,822,000. TD Asset Management Inc purchased a new position in Cooper Companies during the second quarter worth approximately $53,045,000. Finally, Impax Asset Management Group plc boosted its stake in Cooper Companies by 31.0% during the second quarter. Impax Asset Management Group plc now owns 2,359,798 shares of the medical device company's stock worth $205,511,000 after buying an additional 558,886 shares during the last quarter. 24.39% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

About Cooper Companies

The Cooper Companies, Inc, together with its subsidiaries, develops, manufactures, and markets contact lens wearers. The company operates in two segments, CooperVision and CooperSurgical. The CooperVision segment provides spherical lense, including lenses that correct near and farsightedness; and toric and multifocal lenses comprising lenses correcting vision challenges, such as astigmatism, presbyopia, and myopia in the Americas, Europe, Middle East, Africa, and Asia Pacific.