Ocugen (NASDAQ:OCGN) Rating Lowered to Sell at Wall Street Zen

Key Points

• Wall Street Zen downgraded Ocugen from “hold” to “sell,” although the broader analyst consensus remains “Moderate Buy” with a $9.50 target price.
• Ocugen shares opened at $0.74, near their 52-week low of $0.73, while the company reported a quarterly loss of $0.07 per share, missing estimates by $0.02.
• CEO Shankar Musunuri sold 468,727 shares for approximately $445,291 under a pre-arranged trading plan; insiders have sold more than 1 million shares over the past 90 days.

Ocugen (NASDAQ:OCGN - Get Free Report) was downgraded by investment analysts at Wall Street Zen from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a research report issued on Saturday, Wall Street Zen reports.

Separately, Weiss Ratings raised shares of Ocugen from a "sell (e+)" rating to a "sell (d-)" rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 11th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $9.50.

Ocugen Price Performance

Shares of Ocugen stock opened at $0.74 on Friday. Ocugen has a fifty-two week low of $0.73 and a fifty-two week high of $2.73. The company has a current ratio of 0.80, a quick ratio of 0.80 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 4.17. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $1.10 and a 200 day moving average of $1.32.

Ocugen (NASDAQ:OCGN - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, August 6th. The company reported ($0.07) EPS for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of ($0.05) by ($0.02). The business had revenue of $1.49 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $0.89 million. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Ocugen will post -0.25 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Ocugen news, CEO Shankar Musunuri sold 468,727 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Friday, October 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $0.95, for a total transaction of $445,290.65. Following the sale, the chief executive officer owned 4,018,470 shares in the company, valued at $3,817,546.50. This represents a 10.45% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 1,051,982 shares of company stock worth $1,088,801. Insiders own 3.95% of the company's stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Ocugen

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Bank of America Corp DE purchased a new stake in shares of Ocugen during the second quarter worth approximately $3,046,000. Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc. raised its holdings in Ocugen by 121.7% in the second quarter. Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc. now owns 2,830,397 shares of the company's stock valued at $4,331,000 after acquiring an additional 1,553,672 shares in the last quarter. BlackRock Inc. purchased a new position in Ocugen in the second quarter worth approximately $41,314,000. Headlands Technologies LLC lifted its stake in Ocugen by 527.1% in the second quarter. Headlands Technologies LLC now owns 511,575 shares of the company's stock worth $783,000 after acquiring an additional 429,997 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp purchased a new position in Ocugen in the second quarter worth approximately $1,238,000. 10.27% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Ocugen Company Profile

Ocugen, Inc NASDAQ: OCGN is a biotechnology company focused on developing gene and cell therapies for blindness diseases and vaccines for infectious diseases. The company's programs are designed to address serious conditions with limited treatment options, including inherited retinal diseases and diseases affecting the central retina.

Ocugen's pipeline includes modifier gene therapy candidates intended to treat multiple retinal disorders with a single therapeutic approach. Its lead programs include OCU400 for retinitis pigmentosa, OCU410 for geographic atrophy associated with dry age-related macular degeneration, and OCU410ST for Stargardt disease.

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