Pacific Biosciences of California (NASDAQ:PACB) Stock Sees Unusually High Call Option Buying

Pacific Biosciences of California, Inc. (NASDAQ:PACB) was the target of some unusual options trading activity on Wednesday. Stock traders acquired 13,687 call options on the company. This represents an increase of 795% compared to the average daily volume of 1,530 call options.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Pacific Biosciences of California news, insider Mark Van Oene sold 26,911 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, August 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $1.13, for a total transaction of $30,409.43. Following the sale, the insider owned 2,705,853 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,057,613.89. The trade was a 0.98% decrease in their position. The sale 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. Corporate insiders own 3.70% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Pacific Biosciences of California during the 2nd quarter valued at about $53,000. Squarepoint Ops LLC bought a new position in shares of Pacific Biosciences of California during the second quarter valued at about $70,000. Hsbc Holdings PLC lifted its holdings in Pacific Biosciences of California by 12.8% in the 2nd quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC now owns 280,306 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $463,000 after buying an additional 31,829 shares during the period. Corient Private Wealth LP bought a new position in Pacific Biosciences of California in the second quarter worth about $30,000. Finally, Bank of America Corp DE bought a new stake in shares of Pacific Biosciences of California during the second quarter valued at approximately $2,265,000.

Pacific Biosciences of California Price Performance

NASDAQ:PACB traded up $0.60 during trading hours on Wednesday, hitting $2.44. The stock had a trading volume of 27,371,776 shares, compared to its average volume of 6,814,065. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $1.36 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $1.41. The firm has a market capitalization of $756.87 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -5.59 and a beta of 2.31. Pacific Biosciences of California has a one year low of $1.07 and a one year high of $2.73.

Pacific Biosciences of California (NASDAQ:PACB) last released its quarterly earnings results on Monday, August 3rd. The biotechnology company reported ($0.14) earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($0.13) by ($0.01). The firm 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%. Equities research analysts anticipate that Pacific Biosciences of California will post -0.52 earnings per share for the current year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms recently issued reports on PACB. UBS Group started coverage on Pacific Biosciences of California in a research note on Wednesday, September 9th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $1.35 price objective on the stock. Wall Street Zen downgraded Pacific Biosciences of California from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Saturday, August 8th. Finally, Weiss Ratings lowered Pacific Biosciences of California from a “sell (d-)” rating to a “sell (e+)” rating in a report on Monday. 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 MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Reduce” and an average price target of $1.71.

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.