Royal Bank of Canada Has Lowered Expectations for Hologic (NASDAQ:HOLX) Stock Price

Hologic (NASDAQ:HOLX) had its target price dropped by equities research analysts at Royal Bank of Canada from $88.00 to $85.00 in a research note issued on Thursday,Benzinga reports. The firm currently has a “sector perform” rating on the medical equipment provider’s stock. Royal Bank of Canada’s price objective points to a potential upside of 31.62% from the company’s previous close.

Several other analysts have also recently weighed in on HOLX. UBS Group boosted their price target on Hologic from $84.00 to $90.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 5th. William Blair reissued an “outperform” rating on shares of Hologic in a report on Thursday. Needham & Company LLC downgraded shares of Hologic from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $90.00 price target for the company. in a research note on Monday, February 3rd. Leerink Partners cut shares of Hologic from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and reduced their price objective for the stock from $80.00 to $75.00 in a research note on Thursday. Finally, BNP Paribas raised Hologic to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 10th. Ten investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Hologic presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $85.77.

Hologic Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:HOLX opened at $64.58 on Thursday. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $72.33 and a 200 day simple moving average of $77.76. The company has a market cap of $14.58 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.39, a PEG ratio of 2.35 and a beta of 0.98. Hologic has a one year low of $63.88 and a one year high of $84.67. 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) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 5th. The medical equipment provider reported $1.03 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.02 by $0.01. Hologic had a return on equity of 19.79% and a net margin of 19.59%. Research analysts predict that Hologic will post 4.28 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Hologic news, COO Essex D. Mitchell sold 24,856 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, December 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $76.34, for a total value of $1,897,507.04. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 27,957 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,134,237.38. The trade was a 47.06 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. 1.88% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of HOLX. FMR LLC grew its holdings in Hologic by 64.0% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 5,572,545 shares of the medical equipment provider’s stock worth $453,940,000 after purchasing an additional 2,174,093 shares during the period. Nordea Investment Management AB boosted its position in shares of Hologic by 32.7% during the 4th quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 2,213,607 shares of the medical equipment provider’s stock worth $159,911,000 after purchasing an additional 544,889 shares in the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Hologic in the 4th quarter valued at about $27,007,000. Swedbank AB raised its stake in Hologic by 18.8% during the 3rd quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 1,937,002 shares of the medical equipment provider’s stock worth $157,788,000 after buying an additional 306,562 shares during the period. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its holdings in Hologic by 21.3% in the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 1,358,945 shares of the medical equipment provider’s stock worth $110,700,000 after acquiring an additional 238,222 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.