Baillie Gifford & Co. Sells 306,599 Shares of STAAR Surgical (NASDAQ:STAA)

Baillie Gifford & Co. trimmed its position in STAAR Surgical (NASDAQ:STAA) by 21.0% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 1,153,886 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock after selling 306,599 shares during the period. Baillie Gifford & Co. owned 2.34% of STAAR Surgical worth $28,028,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other large investors also recently modified their holdings of STAA. Creative Planning lifted its stake in shares of STAAR Surgical by 8.0% in the 3rd quarter. Creative Planning now owns 5,524 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock valued at $205,000 after acquiring an additional 408 shares during the last quarter. Defender Capital LLC. raised its position in STAAR Surgical by 4.4% during the 3rd quarter. Defender Capital LLC. now owns 677,617 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock worth $25,173,000 after purchasing an additional 28,430 shares during the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. raised its position in STAAR Surgical by 2.3% during the 3rd quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 90,434 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock worth $3,360,000 after purchasing an additional 2,047 shares during the last quarter. Arcadia Investment Management Corp MI bought a new position in STAAR Surgical during the 3rd quarter worth $37,000. Finally, Van ECK Associates Corp raised its position in STAAR Surgical by 12.7% during the 3rd quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 3,478 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock worth $129,000 after purchasing an additional 393 shares during the last quarter. 96.70% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

STAAR Surgical Trading Down 3.8 %

Shares of STAAR Surgical stock opened at $15.35 on Tuesday. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $23.15 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $28.63. STAAR Surgical has a 1-year low of $13.50 and a 1-year high of $52.68. The company has a market cap of $756.45 million, a P/E ratio of 34.89 and a beta of 0.62.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages recently issued reports on STAA. StockNews.com lowered STAAR Surgical from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed a “hold” rating on shares of STAAR Surgical in a research report on Wednesday, February 12th. Stephens reaffirmed an “equal weight” rating and set a $28.00 target price on shares of STAAR Surgical in a research report on Wednesday, February 12th. BTIG Research lowered STAAR Surgical from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research 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 research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and one has assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $26.86.

Insider Activity

In other news, major shareholder Broadwood Partners, L.P. bought 53,500 shares of STAAR Surgical stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 16th. The stock was bought at an average cost of $24.24 per share, for a total transaction of $1,296,840.00. Following the purchase, the insider now directly owns 10,821,931 shares in the company, valued at approximately $262,323,607.44. This represents a 0.50 % increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Insiders bought a total of 402,024 shares of company stock worth $6,936,904 in the last three months. Company insiders own 1.00% of the company’s stock.

STAAR Surgical Company 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.