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

Pacific Biosciences of California, Inc. (NASDAQ:PACB) was the recipient of unusually large options trading activity on Wednesday. Stock investors purchased 13,687 call options on the stock. This represents an increase of approximately 795% compared to the typical daily volume of 1,530 call options.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages recently issued reports on PACB. Weiss Ratings cut shares of Pacific Biosciences of California from a “sell (d-)” rating to a “sell (e+)” rating in a report on Monday. Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Pacific Biosciences of California from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Saturday, August 8th. Finally, UBS Group assumed coverage on Pacific Biosciences of California in a report on Wednesday, September 9th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $1.35 price target on the stock. One analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating, three have given a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Reduce” and a consensus target price of $1.71.

Insider Transactions at Pacific Biosciences of California

In related news, insider Mark Van Oene sold 26,911 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, August 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $1.13, for a total transaction of $30,409.43. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 2,705,853 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,057,613.89. This trade represents a 0.98% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards. Company insiders own 3.70% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Pacific Biosciences of California

A number of institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of PACB. BlackRock Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Pacific Biosciences of California during the 2nd quarter valued at about $54,330,000. Casdin Capital LLC grew its stake in shares of Pacific Biosciences of California by 483.6% during the 4th quarter. Casdin Capital LLC now owns 4,223,767 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $7,898,000 after acquiring an additional 3,500,000 shares during the period. Bank of America Corp DE purchased a new stake in Pacific Biosciences of California in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $2,265,000. Hhlr Advisors LTD. purchased a new stake in Pacific Biosciences of California in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $1,544,000. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its stake in Pacific Biosciences of California by 177.9% during the 1st quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 899,550 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $1,187,000 after acquiring an additional 575,801 shares during the period.

Pacific Biosciences of California Price Performance

Shares of PACB traded up $0.60 on Wednesday, reaching $2.44. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 27,371,776 shares, compared to its average volume of 6,814,065. The stock has a market capitalization of $756.87 million, a P/E ratio of -5.59 and a beta of 2.31. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $1.36 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $1.41. Pacific Biosciences of California has a 12-month low of $1.07 and a 12-month high of $2.73.

Pacific Biosciences of California (NASDAQ:PACB) last announced its earnings results on Monday, August 3rd. The biotechnology company reported ($0.14) EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.13) by ($0.01). Pacific Biosciences of California had a negative net margin of 82.49% and a negative return on equity of 5,752.12%. The business had revenue of $39.01 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $42.90 million. Analysts expect that Pacific Biosciences of California will post -0.52 earnings per share for the current year.

Pacific Biosciences of California Company Profile

Pacific Biosciences of California, Inc (NASDAQ: PACB) develops and commercializes life-science technologies for DNA sequencing. The company is best known for its Single Molecule, Real-Time (SMRT) sequencing platform, which produces highly accurate, long-read sequencing data used to study genomes, transcriptomes and other biological systems.

PacBio’s product portfolio includes the Revio and Sequel IIe long-read sequencing systems, associated consumables and sample-preparation solutions, and software for data analysis and interpretation.