Pacific Biosciences of California (NASDAQ:PACB) Trading Up 10.1%

Pacific Biosciences of California, Inc. (NASDAQ:PACB) was up 10.1% during trading on Monday . The company traded as high as $2.03 and last traded at $2.02. Approximately 5,116,811 shares changed hands during trading, a decline of 48% from the average daily volume of 9,845,091 shares. The stock had previously closed at $1.83.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms recently issued reports on PACB. StockNews.com upgraded Pacific Biosciences of California to a “sell” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 17th. TD Cowen decreased their price target on shares of Pacific Biosciences of California from $12.00 to $2.50 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 17th. The Goldman Sachs Group downgraded Pacific Biosciences of California from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and reduced their target price for the company from $7.00 to $2.50 in a research note on Thursday, April 18th. Barclays dropped their price target on Pacific Biosciences of California from $8.00 to $3.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, April 10th. Finally, Scotiabank reduced their price objective on Pacific Biosciences of California from $15.00 to $8.00 and set a “sector outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, April 18th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $7.77.

Pacific Biosciences of California Stock Performance

The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $3.17 and its 200 day simple moving average is $6.04. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.27, a quick ratio of 7.21 and a current ratio of 7.81. The stock has a market cap of $457.53 million, a PE ratio of -1.38 and a beta of 1.99.

Pacific Biosciences of California (NASDAQ:PACB) last released its earnings results on Thursday, February 15th. The biotechnology company reported ($0.27) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($0.29) by $0.02. The company had revenue of $58.36 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $57.96 million. Pacific Biosciences of California had a negative return on equity of 40.23% and a negative net margin of 152.97%. Pacific Biosciences of California’s quarterly revenue was up 113.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted ($0.35) earnings per share. Analysts expect that Pacific Biosciences of California, Inc. will post -1 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity

In other news, insider Oene Mark Van sold 33,560 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $5.96, for a total value of $200,017.60. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 876,611 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,224,601.56. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In other Pacific Biosciences of California news, insider Oene Mark Van sold 33,560 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, February 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $5.96, for a total transaction of $200,017.60. Following the sale, the insider now owns 876,611 shares in the company, valued at $5,224,601.56. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director David W. Meline acquired 40,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 6th. The stock was bought at an average price of $4.40 per share, for a total transaction of $176,000.00. Following the acquisition, the director now owns 40,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $176,000. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 37,359 shares of company stock valued at $218,843 over the last three months. Corporate insiders own 1.40% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Moody Aldrich Partners LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Pacific Biosciences of California during the 4th quarter valued at about $4,103,000. ARK Investment Management LLC raised its position in Pacific Biosciences of California by 15.7% in the 4th quarter. ARK Investment Management LLC now owns 34,504,273 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $338,487,000 after purchasing an additional 4,681,833 shares during the period. Nordea Investment Management AB raised its position in Pacific Biosciences of California by 37.5% in the 3rd quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 149,131 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $1,255,000 after purchasing an additional 40,667 shares during the period. Qube Research & Technologies Ltd raised its position in Pacific Biosciences of California by 452.8% in the 3rd quarter. Qube Research & Technologies Ltd now owns 330,331 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $2,758,000 after purchasing an additional 270,573 shares during the period. Finally, Assenagon Asset Management S.A. raised its position in Pacific Biosciences of California by 2,201.0% in the 4th quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 3,041,624 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $29,838,000 after purchasing an additional 2,909,439 shares during the period.

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.