Abrdn plc, a leading international asset management firm, has recently increased its holdings in The Cooper Companies Inc. by 8.1% in the fourth quarter of the fiscal year 2020. According to the company’s most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission (SEC), Abrdn plc now owns 12,689 shares of The Cooper Companies’ medical device stock, valuing $4,196,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.
The Cooper Companies is a well-established medical device company that specializes in manufacturing contact lenses for people suffering from vision challenges such as myopia, presbyopia, astigmatism, and ocular dryness. It operates through two main segments, Cooper Vision and Cooper Surgical.
In other recent news concerning The Cooper Companies Inc., its chief accounting officer (CAO) Agostino Ricupati sold 1,000 shares of the firm’s stock on March 31st for an average price of $370 per share. Following this transaction, Ricupati now directly owns 863 shares in the company valued at approximately $319,310. This information was disclosed in a filing submitted to SEC website recently.
This is not an isolated event regarding insider trading at The Cooper Companies Inc. In March 2021 alone, COO Gerard H. Warner III also sold 1,216 shares of company stock at an average price of $340.53 per share valued at a total price tag of $414,084.48; he currently owns 1,290 shares that are worth roughly $439,283.70 as of today’s market prices. In total over the previous ninety days prior to April 16th’s close on Wall Street insiders sold off nearly forty thousand shares that were worth just shy of thirteen-and-a-half million dollars collectively.
While it is certainly commendable for Abrdn plc to increase its stake in a medical device company such as The Cooper Companies, it would be worthwhile to closely analyze the actions of the company’s insiders. There may have been valid reasons for Ricupati and Warner to sell a portion of their shares, but it is critical to understand why, particularly with such active insider trading taking place in one quarter alone.
Regardless, The Cooper Companies Inc. remains a leading medical device company in its field; therefore Abrdn plc’s move seems like a sound investment for now. Investors should keep a close eye on this stock to gain valuable insights into the specific nuances and behavior patterns taking shape in the medical field industry. If it might be another breakout stock or not only time will tell.
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The Rise of Cooper Companies: Delivering Innovation in Medical Devices and Attracting Institutional Investors.
The Cooper Cos, Inc is a medical device company that operates through two segments: Cooper Vision and Cooper Surgical. The company develops, manufactures, and markets products for contact lens wearers that address vision challenges such as astigmatism, presbyopia, myopia, ocular dryness, and eye fatigue. Cooper Companies (NYSE:COO) has a market capitalization of $19.30 billion and operates with a price-to-earnings ratio of 51.67, a PEG ratio of 2.76, and a beta of 0.91.
Recently several hedge funds have either added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Greenwood Capital Associates LLC acquired a new position in Cooper Companies in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $25,000 while Belpointe Asset Management LLC acquired a new position valued at approximately $30,000 during the same period. Denali Advisors LLC acquired a stake worth approximately $33,000 in Q4 2019 along with an increase of its holdings by CI Investments Inc on 60.7% in the third quarter which now owns 135 shares of the medical device company’s stock valued at $36,000 after acquiring an additional 51 shares in the last quarter before Standard Family Office LLC also acquired a share position valued at approximately $37,000 during Q3 in 2019.
Several equity analysts have recently issued reports regarding COO shares with Stifel Nicolaus increasing their target price from $380.00 to $420.00 followed by Citigroup who increased their target price on Cooper Companies’ stock from $372.00 to $430.00 rating it as “buy”. Mizuho has also raised its target price from $390.too0 to $400.00 while Wells Fargo & Company increased theirs from$355.too0 to$430 too making them another “buy” recommendation out of seven according to StockNews.com. As per consensus in Bloomberg.com, the current rating of the COO stock is “Moderate Buy” with an average target price of $393.30.
For the first quarter of 2021, Cooper Companies delivered strong results that beat analysts’ expectations. The company reported earnings-per-share (EPS) of $2.90 for Q1, which surpassed analysts’ expectations by $0.24. The business had revenue of $858.50 million for Q1 compared to analysts’ estimates of $834.90 million and showed an increase in quarterly revenue by 9.1% YoY.
In conclusion, The Cooper Companies continue to deliver solid results and innovation as a medical device company that assists patients with eye conditions and vision challenges all over the world; this reflects in its steadily rising stock price and attracting interest from institutional investors alike who own 96.78% of COO’s shares, allowing diversification across market categories such as value and sustainability investing strategies while accommodating differing risk tolerances among institutional investors who are making position changes on opportunities that have become apparent from large institutional investors betting on them early on in their investment strategies.
