Traders Purchase High Volume of Pacific Biosciences of California Call Options (NASDAQ:PACB)

Pacific Biosciences of California, Inc. (NASDAQ:PACB) was the target of unusually large options trading activity on Tuesday. Stock traders acquired 31,944 call options on the stock. This is an increase of approximately 477% compared to the typical daily volume of 5,533 call options.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have recently issued reports on PACB. Piper Sandler lifted their price objective on shares of Pacific Biosciences of California from $2.00 to $2.50 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, November 11th. Scotiabank lowered their price objective on shares of Pacific Biosciences of California from $7.00 to $6.00 and set a “sector outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, November 11th. The Goldman Sachs Group lowered their price objective on shares of Pacific Biosciences of California from $1.75 to $1.50 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday. Stephens reiterated an “overweight” rating and issued a $2.50 price objective on shares of Pacific Biosciences of California in a report on Friday. Finally, UBS Group downgraded shares of Pacific Biosciences of California from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $2.00 target price on the stock. in a report on Monday, November 11th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $2.83.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Pacific Biosciences of California news, insider Oene Mark Van sold 34,405 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, January 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $2.03, for a total transaction of $69,842.15. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 1,597,454 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,242,831.62. This trade represents a 2.11 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. 2.40% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. PCA Investment Advisory Services Inc. increased its stake in shares of Pacific Biosciences of California by 50.0% in the fourth quarter. PCA Investment Advisory Services Inc. now owns 15,000 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $27,000 after buying an additional 5,000 shares during the period. Creative Planning boosted its holdings in Pacific Biosciences of California by 30.8% in the third quarter. Creative Planning now owns 32,409 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $55,000 after acquiring an additional 7,629 shares during the last quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC boosted its holdings in Pacific Biosciences of California by 10.3% in the fourth quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC now owns 86,809 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $154,000 after acquiring an additional 8,106 shares during the last quarter. Atria Investments Inc boosted its holdings in Pacific Biosciences of California by 85.7% in the third quarter. Atria Investments Inc now owns 21,968 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $37,000 after acquiring an additional 10,138 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Impact Partnership Wealth LLC boosted its holdings in Pacific Biosciences of California by 29.5% in the fourth quarter. Impact Partnership Wealth LLC now owns 50,735 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $93,000 after acquiring an additional 11,566 shares during the last quarter.

Pacific Biosciences of California Price Performance

NASDAQ PACB traded up $0.02 during trading on Tuesday, hitting $1.87. 19,725,774 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 12,722,295. The company has a current ratio of 9.74, a quick ratio of 8.64 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.97. The company has a market cap of $512.12 million, a PE ratio of -1.28 and a beta of 1.92. Pacific Biosciences of California has a fifty-two week low of $1.16 and a fifty-two week high of $6.09. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $1.79 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $1.79.

Pacific Biosciences of California (NASDAQ:PACB) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 13th. The biotechnology company reported ($0.20) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of ($0.20). Pacific Biosciences of California had a negative return on equity of 42.71% and a negative net margin of 227.69%. The company had revenue of $39.22 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $39.20 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted ($0.27) earnings per share. Research analysts expect that Pacific Biosciences of California will post -0.91 EPS for the current year.

Pacific Biosciences of California Company Profile

Pacific Biosciences of California, Inc designs, develops, and manufactures sequencing solution to resolve genetically complex problems. The company provides sequencing systems; consumable products, including single molecule real-time (SMRT) technology; long-red sequencing; and various reagent kits designed for specific workflow, such as preparation kit to convert DNA into SMRTbell double-stranded DNA library formats, including molecular biology reagents, such as ligase, buffers, and exonucleases.