The Cooper Companies, Inc. (NASDAQ:COO) Short Interest Up 27.3% in October

The Cooper Companies, Inc. (NASDAQ:COO) was the target of a large increase in short interest during the month of October. As of October 31st, there was short interest totalling 2,240,000 shares, an increase of 27.3% from the October 15th total of 1,760,000 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 1,140,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 2.0 days.

Insider Activity

In other news, COO Daniel G. Mcbride sold 114,992 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, September 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $105.48, for a total value of $12,129,356.16. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 44,696 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,714,534.08. This represents a 72.01 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CFO Brian G. Andrews sold 24,788 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, September 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $105.90, for a total transaction of $2,625,049.20. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 6,614 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $700,422.60. The trade was a 78.94 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 256,373 shares of company stock valued at $27,637,427 in the last quarter. Insiders own 2.00% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Cooper Companies

Several institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in COO. Innealta Capital LLC acquired a new stake in Cooper Companies during the second quarter worth approximately $25,000. Ashton Thomas Securities LLC acquired a new stake in Cooper Companies during the 3rd quarter worth $25,000. Covestor Ltd lifted its position in Cooper Companies by 305.9% in the first quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 276 shares of the medical device company’s stock valued at $28,000 after acquiring an additional 208 shares during the last quarter. Crewe Advisors LLC lifted its position in Cooper Companies by 286.4% in the second quarter. Crewe Advisors LLC now owns 340 shares of the medical device company’s stock valued at $30,000 after acquiring an additional 252 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Tortoise Investment Management LLC boosted its stake in Cooper Companies by 75.4% in the second quarter. Tortoise Investment Management LLC now owns 393 shares of the medical device company’s stock valued at $34,000 after acquiring an additional 169 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 24.39% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

COO has been the subject of several research reports. Piper Sandler lifted their target price on Cooper Companies from $115.00 to $120.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 29th. Robert W. Baird lifted their price objective on shares of Cooper Companies from $118.00 to $125.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, August 29th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Cooper Companies from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday. Stifel Nicolaus restated a “buy” rating and issued a $115.00 price target (up previously from $110.00) on shares of Cooper Companies in a research note on Thursday, August 29th. Finally, Morgan Stanley upped their price objective on Cooper Companies from $95.00 to $104.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, September 10th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Cooper Companies presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $117.00.

Cooper Companies Price Performance

Cooper Companies stock opened at $99.63 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 1.99, a quick ratio of 1.18 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $106.83 and a 200-day simple moving average of $98.00. The stock has a market cap of $19.84 billion, a P/E ratio of 55.50, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.15 and a beta of 0.99. Cooper Companies has a 12-month low of $82.21 and a 12-month high of $112.38.

Cooper Companies (NASDAQ:COO) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, August 28th. The medical device company reported $0.96 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.91 by $0.05. The company had revenue of $1 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $997.30 million. Cooper Companies had a return on equity of 9.08% and a net margin of 9.45%. Cooper Companies’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.84 EPS. Equities analysts expect that Cooper Companies will post 3.65 EPS for the current fiscal year.

About Cooper Companies

The Cooper Companies, Inc, together with its subsidiaries, develops, manufactures, and markets contact lens wearers. The company operates in two segments, CooperVision and CooperSurgical. The CooperVision segment provides spherical lense, including lenses that correct near and farsightedness; and toric and multifocal lenses comprising lenses correcting vision challenges, such as astigmatism, presbyopia, and myopia in the Americas, Europe, Middle East, Africa, and Asia Pacific.