William Blair Begins Coverage on Ocular Therapeutix (NASDAQ:OCUL)

William Blair assumed coverage on shares of Ocular Therapeutix (NASDAQ:OCUL) in a report published on Tuesday morning, Marketbeat.com reports. The firm issued an outperform rating on the biopharmaceutical company’s stock.

A number of other equities research analysts have also recently commented on OCUL. Needham & Company LLC reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $15.00 target price on shares of Ocular Therapeutix in a report on Tuesday. HC Wainwright reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $15.00 target price on shares of Ocular Therapeutix in a research report on Tuesday, March 4th. JMP Securities set a $19.00 target price on shares of Ocular Therapeutix in a report on Tuesday, March 4th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada began coverage on shares of Ocular Therapeutix in a research note on Tuesday, March 18th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $17.00 price target on the stock. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $16.38.

Ocular Therapeutix Trading Down 6.3 %

Shares of OCUL stock opened at $6.41 on Tuesday. The stock has a market cap of $1.02 billion, a P/E ratio of -4.86 and a beta of 1.49. The company has a quick ratio of 12.94, a current ratio of 13.01 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.19. Ocular Therapeutix has a fifty-two week low of $4.06 and a fifty-two week high of $11.78. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $7.25 and a 200-day simple moving average of $8.59.

Ocular Therapeutix (NASDAQ:OCUL) last posted its earnings results on Monday, March 3rd. The biopharmaceutical company reported ($0.29) earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($0.24) by ($0.05). Ocular Therapeutix had a negative net margin of 283.74% and a negative return on equity of 45.18%. The business had revenue of $17.08 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $16.89 million. On average, analysts forecast that Ocular Therapeutix will post -0.98 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Transactions at Ocular Therapeutix

In related news, insider Donald Notman sold 6,301 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, January 31st. The stock was sold at an average price of $7.84, for a total transaction of $49,399.84. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 204,563 shares in the company, valued at $1,603,773.92. This trade represents a 2.99 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, insider Pravin Dugel sold 21,475 shares of Ocular Therapeutix stock in a transaction on Monday, February 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $6.87, for a total transaction of $147,533.25. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 3,520,318 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $24,184,584.66. This represents a 0.61 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 38,895 shares of company stock valued at $283,772. Insiders own 3.50% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of large investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Point72 Asset Management L.P. lifted its holdings in shares of Ocular Therapeutix by 43.9% in the 4th quarter. Point72 Asset Management L.P. now owns 2,935,924 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $25,073,000 after purchasing an additional 895,304 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its stake in Ocular Therapeutix by 146.6% in the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,110,460 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $9,661,000 after buying an additional 660,080 shares during the last quarter. Millennium Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Ocular Therapeutix during the fourth quarter valued at $3,819,000. FMR LLC grew its position in shares of Ocular Therapeutix by 7,098.7% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 434,369 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $3,779,000 after acquiring an additional 428,335 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Artisan Partners Limited Partnership increased its holdings in shares of Ocular Therapeutix by 26.4% in the 4th quarter. Artisan Partners Limited Partnership now owns 1,334,702 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $11,398,000 after acquiring an additional 278,610 shares during the period. 59.21% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

About Ocular Therapeutix

Ocular Therapeutix, Inc, a biopharmaceutical company, focuses on the formulation, development, and commercialization of therapies for diseases and conditions of the eye using its bioresorbable hydrogel-based formulation technology in the United States. The company markets DEXTENZA, a dexamethasone ophthalmic insert to treat post-surgical ocular inflammation and pain following ophthalmic surgery, as well as allergic conjunctivitis.