Needham & Company LLC Reiterates "Buy" Rating for Hologic (NASDAQ:HOLX)

Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed their buy rating on shares of Hologic (NASDAQ:HOLX - Free Report) in a research note released on Thursday morning,Benzinga reports. They currently have a $90.00 target price on the medical equipment provider's stock.

Several other brokerages have also issued reports on HOLX. Evercore ISI boosted their price target on Hologic from $78.00 to $82.00 and gave the company an "in-line" rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 1st. Citigroup downgraded shares of Hologic from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating and dropped their target price for the company from $95.00 to $85.00 in a research report on Tuesday, October 1st. Leerink Partners cut their target price on shares of Hologic from $95.00 to $90.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, October 8th. StockNews.com raised shares of Hologic from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, November 14th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on shares of Hologic from $92.00 to $94.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Tuesday, November 5th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $89.50.

Hologic Trading Down 1.0 %

Shares of HOLX traded down $0.71 during trading hours on Thursday, hitting $70.76. 2,344,340 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,643,932. Hologic has a fifty-two week low of $70.24 and a fifty-two week high of $84.67. The business has a 50-day moving average of $78.65 and a 200-day moving average of $78.52. The firm has a market capitalization of $16.06 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.25, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.38 and a beta of 0.96. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49, a current ratio of 3.69 and a quick ratio of 3.03.

Hologic (NASDAQ:HOLX - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Monday, November 4th. The medical equipment provider reported $1.01 earnings per share for the quarter, hitting analysts' consensus estimates of $1.01. Hologic had a return on equity of 19.79% and a net margin of 19.59%. The firm had revenue of $987.90 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $978.25 million. During the same period last year, the business posted $0.89 EPS. The business's revenue was up 4.5% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts expect that Hologic will post 4.28 EPS for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Hologic news, COO Essex D. Mitchell sold 24,856 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, December 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $76.34, for a total transaction of $1,897,507.04. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 27,957 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,134,237.38. This trade represents a 47.06 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 1.75% of the company's stock.

Institutional Trading of Hologic

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. State Street Corp grew its position in Hologic by 0.8% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 10,409,327 shares of the medical equipment provider's stock worth $847,944,000 after purchasing an additional 81,057 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC boosted its stake in shares of Hologic by 64.0% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 5,572,545 shares of the medical equipment provider's stock worth $453,940,000 after buying an additional 2,174,093 shares during the last quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company grew its holdings in shares of Hologic by 0.7% in the third quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 2,554,032 shares of the medical equipment provider's stock valued at $208,051,000 after acquiring an additional 18,774 shares in the last quarter. BNP PARIBAS ASSET MANAGEMENT Holding S.A. increased its position in shares of Hologic by 8.6% during the third quarter. BNP PARIBAS ASSET MANAGEMENT Holding S.A. now owns 2,466,888 shares of the medical equipment provider's stock valued at $200,952,000 after acquiring an additional 195,285 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Black Creek Investment Management Inc. increased its position in shares of Hologic by 60.9% during the second quarter. Black Creek Investment Management Inc. now owns 2,338,970 shares of the medical equipment provider's stock valued at $173,669,000 after acquiring an additional 885,524 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 94.73% of the company's stock.

About Hologic

Hologic, Inc develops, manufactures, and supplies diagnostics products, medical imaging systems, and surgical products for women's health through early detection and treatment. The company operates through four segments: Diagnostics, Breast Health, GYN Surgical, and Skeletal Health. It provides Aptima molecular diagnostic assays to detect the infectious microorganisms; Aptima viral load assays for Hepatitis B virus, Hepatitis C virus, human immunodeficiency virus, and human cytomegalo virus; Aptima bacterial vaginosis and candida vaginitis assays for the diagnosis of vaginitis; Aptima SARS-CoV-2 and Panther Fusion SARS-CoV-2 assays to detect SARS-CoV-2; ThinPrep System for cytology applications; and Rapid Fetal Fibronectin Test that assists physicians in assessing the risk of pre-term birth.