StockNews.com Begins Coverage on OPKO Health (NASDAQ:OPK)

StockNews.com started coverage on shares of OPKO Health (NASDAQ:OPK – Get Rating) in a research note released on Thursday morning. The brokerage issued a sell rating on the biotechnology company’s stock.

Separately, HC Wainwright restated a buy rating and issued a $3.00 price objective on shares of OPKO Health in a report on Thursday, March 9th.

OPKO Health Trading Down 2.2 %

Shares of OPK stock opened at $1.36 on Thursday. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $1.28 and its 200-day moving average price is $1.53. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13, a current ratio of 1.85 and a quick ratio of 1.50. OPKO Health has a twelve month low of $1.00 and a twelve month high of $3.78.

OPKO Health (NASDAQ:OPK – Get Rating) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 23rd. The biotechnology company reported ($0.11) earnings per share for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of ($0.11). The firm had revenue of $185.40 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $168.21 million. OPKO Health had a negative net margin of 32.70% and a negative return on equity of 15.77%. The company’s revenue was down 53.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted ($0.11) EPS. As a group, equities analysts expect that OPKO Health will post -0.29 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity at OPKO Health

In related news, CEO Phillip Md Et Al Frost acquired 1,000,000 shares of OPKO Health stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 8th. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $1.18 per share, for a total transaction of $1,180,000.00. Following the acquisition, the chief executive officer now owns 199,831,694 shares in the company, valued at $235,801,398.92. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. In other OPKO Health news, major shareholder Opko Health, Inc. purchased 14,285,714 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, January 26th. The shares were bought at an average cost of $0.35 per share, for a total transaction of $4,999,999.90. Following the completion of the purchase, the insider now directly owns 94,285,714 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $32,999,999.90. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Phillip Md Et Al Frost acquired 1,000,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 8th. The shares were bought at an average cost of $1.18 per share, with a total value of $1,180,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 199,831,694 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $235,801,398.92. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. 40.97% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On OPKO Health

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in OPK. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. grew its position in shares of OPKO Health by 29.1% during the first quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 58,570 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $201,000 after buying an additional 13,214 shares in the last quarter. Cetera Advisor Networks LLC grew its position in shares of OPKO Health by 33.7% during the first quarter. Cetera Advisor Networks LLC now owns 15,156 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $52,000 after buying an additional 3,820 shares in the last quarter. MetLife Investment Management LLC grew its position in shares of OPKO Health by 70.6% during the first quarter. MetLife Investment Management LLC now owns 206,296 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $710,000 after buying an additional 85,349 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its position in shares of OPKO Health by 73.2% during the first quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 7,184,414 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $24,717,000 after buying an additional 3,037,320 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC grew its position in shares of OPKO Health by 11.9% during the first quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC now owns 94,071 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $324,000 after buying an additional 10,000 shares in the last quarter. 23.49% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

OPKO Health Company Profile

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OPKO Health, Inc is a biopharmaceutical and diagnostics company, which engages in the provision of healthcare services. It operates through the following segments: Diagnostics and Pharmaceuticals. The Diagnostics segment includes the clinical laboratory operations of BioReference, as well as point-of-care operations.