Salem Investment Counselors Inc. Has $17.58 Million Holdings in Boston Scientific Co. (NYSE:BSX)

Salem Investment Counselors Inc. cut its holdings in Boston Scientific Co. (NYSE:BSX) by 7.5% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 196,790 shares of the medical equipment provider’s stock after selling 15,857 shares during the period. Salem Investment Counselors Inc.’s holdings in Boston Scientific were worth $17,577,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in BSX. Marshall Wace LLP increased its holdings in Boston Scientific by 115.9% during the second quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 6,720,480 shares of the medical equipment provider’s stock worth $517,544,000 after buying an additional 3,608,158 shares during the last quarter. AustralianSuper Pty Ltd increased its holdings in Boston Scientific by 4,292.3% during the third quarter. AustralianSuper Pty Ltd now owns 2,676,847 shares of the medical equipment provider’s stock worth $224,320,000 after buying an additional 2,615,903 shares during the last quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. increased its holdings in Boston Scientific by 30.0% during the second quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 7,899,610 shares of the medical equipment provider’s stock worth $608,349,000 after buying an additional 1,824,405 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp increased its holdings in Boston Scientific by 2.3% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 62,846,328 shares of the medical equipment provider’s stock worth $5,266,522,000 after buying an additional 1,389,172 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC increased its holdings in Boston Scientific by 98.0% during the third quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 2,205,368 shares of the medical equipment provider’s stock worth $184,810,000 after buying an additional 1,091,561 shares during the last quarter. 89.07% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Transactions at Boston Scientific

In other news, Director Edward J. Ludwig sold 4,877 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, November 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $91.63, for a total value of $446,879.51. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 39,398 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,610,038.74. This represents a 11.02 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, EVP John Bradley Sorenson sold 4,119 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, January 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $90.02, for a total value of $370,792.38. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 35,319 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,179,416.38. This represents a 10.44 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 29,989 shares of company stock valued at $2,702,261. 0.50% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Boston Scientific Price Performance

BSX traded down $0.08 on Monday, hitting $94.80. 1,978,431 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 5,029,796. The firm has a market capitalization of $139.72 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 78.35, a PEG ratio of 2.67 and a beta of 0.80. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.44, a current ratio of 1.48 and a quick ratio of 1.02. Boston Scientific Co. has a 12 month low of $59.61 and a 12 month high of $97.13. The business has a 50-day moving average of $89.96 and a two-hundred day moving average of $83.89.

Boston Scientific (NYSE:BSX) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, October 23rd. The medical equipment provider reported $0.63 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.59 by $0.04. The firm had revenue of $4.21 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.04 billion. Boston Scientific had a net margin of 11.26% and a return on equity of 17.23%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 19.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $0.50 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts forecast that Boston Scientific Co. will post 2.46 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

BSX has been the topic of several research reports. Morgan Stanley upped their price objective on shares of Boston Scientific from $92.00 to $100.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, October 24th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upgraded shares of Boston Scientific from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $108.00 price objective on the stock in a report on Friday. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Boston Scientific from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, November 4th. Evercore ISI upped their price objective on shares of Boston Scientific from $82.00 to $90.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 1st. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus upped their price objective on shares of Boston Scientific from $85.00 to $100.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, October 18th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $97.26.

Boston Scientific Company Profile

Boston Scientific Corporation develops, manufactures, and markets medical devices for use in various interventional medical specialties worldwide. It operates through two segments, MedSurg and Cardiovascular. The company offers devices to diagnose and treat gastrointestinal and pulmonary conditions, such as resolution clips, biliary stent systems, stents and electrocautery enhanced delivery systems, direct visualization systems, digital catheters, and single-use duodenoscopes; devices to treat urological conditions, including ureteral stents, catheters, baskets, guidewires, sheaths, balloons, single-use digital flexible ureteroscopes, holmium laser systems, artificial urinary sphincter, laser system, fiber, and hydrogel systems; and devices to treat neurological movement disorders and manage chronic pain, such as spinal cord stimulator system, proprietary programming software, radiofrequency generator, indirect decompression systems, practice optimization tools, and deep brain stimulation system.