Stock Traders Purchase High Volume of Put Options on Maravai LifeSciences (NASDAQ:MRVI)

Maravai LifeSciences Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:MRVI) was the target of some unusual options trading on Wednesday. Traders bought 1,002 put options on the company. This represents an increase of 1,791% compared to the typical volume of 53 put options.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on Maravai LifeSciences from $4.00 to $4.50 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, December 15th. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of Maravai LifeSciences in a research report on Tuesday, October 14th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, three have given a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $5.25.

Maravai LifeSciences Price Performance

NASDAQ:MRVI opened at $3.83 on Thursday. Maravai LifeSciences has a one year low of $1.66 and a one year high of $6.05. The stock has a market cap of $979.37 million, a PE ratio of -4.56 and a beta of 0.33. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.74, a quick ratio of 4.56 and a current ratio of 5.29. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $3.60 and a 200 day moving average price of $3.06.

Maravai LifeSciences (NASDAQ:MRVI) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, November 6th. The company reported ($0.08) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($0.06) by ($0.02). Maravai LifeSciences had a negative net margin of 62.88% and a negative return on equity of 22.42%. The company had revenue of $41.63 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $49.02 million. Equities research analysts expect that Maravai LifeSciences will post -0.24 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at Maravai LifeSciences

In related news, CEO Bernd Brust acquired 216,212 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, November 13th. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $3.25 per share, with a total value of $702,689.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the chief executive officer directly owned 466,771 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,517,005.75. This trade represents a 86.29% increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, Director Gregory T. Lucier bought 51,472 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, December 5th. The shares were bought at an average cost of $3.70 per share, with a total value of $190,446.40. Following the purchase, the director directly owned 106,595 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $394,401.50. This represents a 93.38% increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase is available in the SEC filing. Over the last ninety days, insiders have bought 566,771 shares of company stock valued at $1,880,244. Corporate insiders own 2.11% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Jane Street Group LLC lifted its stake in Maravai LifeSciences by 1,463.1% during the first quarter. Jane Street Group LLC now owns 380,403 shares of the company’s stock worth $841,000 after purchasing an additional 356,067 shares in the last quarter. Strs Ohio acquired a new stake in Maravai LifeSciences during the 1st quarter worth approximately $429,000. Callan Family Office LLC acquired a new stake in Maravai LifeSciences during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $25,000. TD Asset Management Inc purchased a new position in Maravai LifeSciences in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $156,000. Finally, VELA Investment Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Maravai LifeSciences by 55.4% in the second quarter. VELA Investment Management LLC now owns 242,962 shares of the company’s stock worth $586,000 after acquiring an additional 86,628 shares in the last quarter. 50.25% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

About Maravai LifeSciences

Maravai LifeSciences Holdings, Inc (NASDAQ: MRVI) is a life sciences company specializing in the development and supply of critical reagents and services for the development and manufacture of biologic therapies. The company’s offerings support a range of applications in genomics, molecular diagnostics, vaccine development and next-generation sequencing. Maravai’s platforms address key challenges in nucleic acid production, protein detection, epigenetic analysis and reagent quality across the biopharmaceutical industry.

Through its product portfolio, which includes proprietary mRNA capping reagents, lipid nanoparticle delivery systems, synthetic oligonucleotides and high-precision assay kits, Maravai enables customers to accelerate research and streamline manufacturing workflows.