Voloridge Investment Management LLC Has $7.20 Million Stock Holdings in STAAR Surgical (NASDAQ:STAA)

Voloridge Investment Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of STAAR Surgical (NASDAQ:STAA - Free Report) by 9.4% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 296,256 shares of the medical instruments supplier's stock after purchasing an additional 25,350 shares during the quarter. Voloridge Investment Management LLC owned about 0.60% of STAAR Surgical worth $7,196,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Squarepoint Ops LLC increased its holdings in shares of STAAR Surgical by 81.3% in the fourth quarter. Squarepoint Ops LLC now owns 117,074 shares of the medical instruments supplier's stock valued at $2,844,000 after purchasing an additional 52,488 shares during the period. Sherbrooke Park Advisers LLC purchased a new stake in STAAR Surgical during the fourth quarter worth $502,000. Raiffeisen Bank International AG acquired a new position in shares of STAAR Surgical in the fourth quarter worth $1,926,000. ProShare Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of STAAR Surgical by 44.5% in the fourth quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC now owns 14,906 shares of the medical instruments supplier's stock worth $362,000 after acquiring an additional 4,590 shares during the last quarter. Finally, MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. increased its stake in STAAR Surgical by 3.9% in the fourth quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 28,123 shares of the medical instruments supplier's stock valued at $683,000 after purchasing an additional 1,044 shares during the last quarter. 96.70% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts have recently issued reports on STAA shares. Wells Fargo & Company started coverage on STAAR Surgical in a research note on Monday, April 21st. They issued an "equal weight" rating and a $17.00 target price for the company. Stifel Nicolaus reduced their price target on STAAR Surgical from $38.00 to $20.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, February 12th. Wall Street Zen downgraded STAAR Surgical from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a report on Thursday, February 13th. Mizuho downgraded STAAR Surgical from an "outperform" rating to a "neutral" rating and reduced their target price for the stock from $45.00 to $17.00 in a report on Wednesday, February 12th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group downgraded STAAR Surgical from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Wednesday, February 12th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating and one has issued a buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $24.63.

STAAR Surgical Price Performance

STAA traded down $0.43 during trading on Friday, reaching $17.90. 72,797 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 825,901. The stock has a market cap of $886.47 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -43.57 and a beta of 0.65. STAAR Surgical has a fifty-two week low of $13.50 and a fifty-two week high of $49.86. The stock's 50-day simple moving average is $17.77 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $20.89.

STAAR Surgical declared that its board has initiated a share buyback program on Friday, May 16th that permits the company to buyback $30.00 million in shares. This buyback authorization permits the medical instruments supplier to reacquire up to 3.2% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are generally an indication that the company's management believes its shares are undervalued.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, major shareholder Broadwood Partners, L.P. acquired 93,124 shares of STAAR Surgical stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 18th. The shares were purchased at an average price of $17.54 per share, with a total value of $1,633,394.96. Following the acquisition, the insider now owns 12,074,275 shares in the company, valued at $211,782,783.50. This represents a 0.78% increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Insiders purchased 1,187,117 shares of company stock valued at $19,536,469 over the last quarter. Insiders own 1.00% of the company's stock.

STAAR Surgical 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.