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

Pacific Biosciences of California, Inc. (NASDAQ:PACB) saw some unusual options trading activity on Monday. Stock traders purchased 8,267 call options on the company. This is an increase of approximately 231% compared to the average volume of 2,497 call options.

Institutional Trading of Pacific Biosciences of California

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in PACB. Amiral Gestion purchased a new position in shares of Pacific Biosciences of California in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $3,208,000. Nuveen LLC purchased a new position in shares of Pacific Biosciences of California in the first quarter worth $319,000. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Pacific Biosciences of California by 6.4% during the second quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 6,718,879 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $8,333,000 after buying an additional 401,637 shares during the period. Invesco Ltd. increased its position in shares of Pacific Biosciences of California by 100.6% in the 1st quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 524,643 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $619,000 after acquiring an additional 263,067 shares during the period. Finally, XTX Topco Ltd lifted its holdings in shares of Pacific Biosciences of California by 95.5% during the second quarter. XTX Topco Ltd now owns 954,596 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $1,184,000 after purchasing an additional 466,359 shares during the period.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research analysts recently commented on the company. Stephens lifted their price target on Pacific Biosciences of California from $1.80 to $2.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, November 10th. Piper Sandler boosted their price objective on shares of Pacific Biosciences of California from $1.50 to $2.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 11th. Weiss Ratings reissued a “sell (e+)” rating on shares of Pacific Biosciences of California in a research note on Wednesday, October 8th. Finally, Barclays lifted their price target on shares of Pacific Biosciences of California from $1.50 to $2.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday, December 15th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, three have assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $2.08.

Pacific Biosciences of California Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:PACB opened at $1.82 on Wednesday. The firm has a market cap of $549.48 million, a PE ratio of -0.83 and a beta of 2.32. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $2.03 and its 200-day simple moving average is $1.59. Pacific Biosciences of California has a one year low of $0.85 and a one year high of $2.73. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 17.88, a quick ratio of 5.40 and a current ratio of 6.24.

Pacific Biosciences of California (NASDAQ:PACB) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, March 29th. The biotechnology company reported ($0.23) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter. The firm had revenue of $3.34 million during the quarter. Pacific Biosciences of California had a negative net margin of 325.02% and a negative return on equity of 101.49%. As a group, equities analysts predict that Pacific Biosciences of California will post -0.72 EPS for the current year.

About Pacific Biosciences of California

Pacific Biosciences of California, Inc develops, manufactures and sells high-performance DNA sequencing systems for genetic and genomic analysis. The company’s proprietary single-molecule, real-time (SMRT) sequencing technology is designed to enable long-read sequencing, offering high accuracy for applications such as de novo genome assembly, transcriptome characterization and structural variation analysis. Pacific Biosciences markets a suite of instruments, including the Sequel and Sequel IIe systems, alongside reagents, consumables and data analysis software to support a range of life science research.

Founded in 2004 and headquartered in Menlo Park, California, Pacific Biosciences has expanded its global reach by serving academic institutions, biotechnology and pharmaceutical companies, and government research centers across North America, Europe and Asia.