Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund Has $732,000 Stock Holdings in STAAR Surgical (NASDAQ:STAA)

Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund raised its stake in STAAR Surgical (NASDAQ:STAA) by 8.3% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 30,144 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock after purchasing an additional 2,318 shares during the period. Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund’s holdings in STAAR Surgical were worth $732,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in STAA. Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd bought a new stake in STAAR Surgical in the 4th quarter valued at about $292,000. Hussman Strategic Advisors Inc. acquired a new stake in STAAR Surgical in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $510,000. Principal Financial Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of STAAR Surgical by 4.7% during the fourth quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 290,753 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock valued at $7,062,000 after acquiring an additional 13,169 shares in the last quarter. Defender Capital LLC. increased its holdings in shares of STAAR Surgical by 3.5% during the fourth quarter. Defender Capital LLC. now owns 701,567 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock valued at $17,041,000 after acquiring an additional 23,950 shares in the last quarter. Finally, KBC Group NV lifted its holdings in shares of STAAR Surgical by 5,700.9% in the 4th quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 96,585 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock worth $2,346,000 after purchasing an additional 94,920 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 96.70% of the company’s stock.

STAAR Surgical Stock Down 5.9 %

Shares of NASDAQ STAA opened at $16.47 on Tuesday. The company has a market capitalization of $812.38 million, a PE ratio of -40.17 and a beta of 0.62. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $21.55 and its 200-day moving average price is $27.18. STAAR Surgical has a twelve month low of $13.50 and a twelve month high of $52.68.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts have commented on the stock. Canaccord Genuity Group decreased their price target on shares of STAAR Surgical from $28.00 to $17.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. William Blair downgraded shares of STAAR Surgical from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 12th. Mizuho cut shares of STAAR Surgical from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and dropped their price target for the company from $45.00 to $17.00 in a research report on Wednesday, February 12th. Jefferies Financial Group lowered STAAR Surgical from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 12th. Finally, BTIG Research lowered STAAR Surgical from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 12th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating and one has issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $26.86.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, major shareholder Broadwood Partners, L.P. purchased 23,000 shares of STAAR Surgical stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, December 18th. The stock was bought at an average price of $24.33 per share, for a total transaction of $559,590.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 10,848,631 shares in the company, valued at $263,947,192.23. This represents a 0.21 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Over the last three months, insiders have acquired 910,843 shares of company stock worth $15,509,972. 1.00% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.