Stock Traders Buy Large Volume of Call Options on Pacific Biosciences of California (NASDAQ:PACB)

Pacific Biosciences of California, Inc. (NASDAQ:PACB) saw some unusual options trading on Monday. Traders bought 21,266 call options on the stock. This represents an increase of approximately 455% compared to the typical volume of 3,835 call options.

Insider Activity

In other news, insider Mark Van Oene sold 26,911 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $1.13, for a total transaction of $30,409.43. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 2,705,853 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,057,613.89. This represents a 0.98% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards. Also, insider James Gibson, II sold 661,815 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, October 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $3.11, for a total transaction of $2,058,244.65. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 1,083,848 shares in the company, valued at $3,370,767.28. This represents a 37.91% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. 3.70% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Pacific Biosciences of California

Institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Corient Private Wealth LP acquired a new stake in shares of Pacific Biosciences of California during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $30,000. Essential Partners LLC acquired a new position in shares of Pacific Biosciences of California during the first quarter valued at $25,000. Pinegrove Venture Partners LLC acquired a new position in shares of Pacific Biosciences of California during the second quarter valued at $34,584. Legal & General Group Plc bought a new stake in shares of Pacific Biosciences of California during the second quarter valued at about $46,000. Finally, Clear Harbor Asset Management LLC acquired a new stake in Pacific Biosciences of California in the second quarter worth about $50,000.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on PACB. Weiss Ratings upgraded Pacific Biosciences of California from a “sell (e+)” rating to a “sell (d-)” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 13th. Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Pacific Biosciences of California from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Saturday, August 8th. Finally, UBS Group initiated coverage on shares of Pacific Biosciences of California in a research note on Wednesday, September 9th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $1.35 target price on the stock. One analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating, three have issued a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Pacific Biosciences of California presently has an average rating of “Reduce” and an average price target of $1.71.

Pacific Biosciences of California Price Performance

NASDAQ:PACB traded up $0.15 during mid-day trading on Monday, reaching $2.27. The stock had a trading volume of 5,697,698 shares, compared to its average volume of 7,984,458. Pacific Biosciences of California has a 1-year low of $1.07 and a 1-year high of $3.43. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $1.69 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $1.53. The company has a market capitalization of $704.03 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -5.27 and a beta of 2.19.

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

Pacific Biosciences of California Company Profile

Pacific Biosciences of California, Inc (NASDAQ: PACB) is a life sciences technology company that develops and supplies DNA sequencing systems, consumables and related software. The company is best known for its single-molecule, real-time (SMRT) sequencing technology, which produces highly accurate long-read data used to analyze complex genomes, structural variation, genetic disease and other biological information.

PacBio’s product portfolio includes the Revio long-read sequencing system, the Sequel II and Sequel IIe platforms, sequencing consumables and the associated data-analysis software.