PureCycle Technologies Sees Unusually High Options Volume (NASDAQ:PCT)

PureCycle Technologies, Inc. (NASDAQ:PCT) was the recipient of unusually large options trading on Wednesday. Investors bought 22,853 put options on the company. This represents an increase of approximately 71% compared to the typical volume of 13,358 put options.

PureCycle Technologies Trading Up 4.5%

PCT opened at $10.20 on Thursday. The stock has a market cap of $1.84 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -6.94 and a beta of 2.31. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $6.49 and its 200-day moving average price is $8.48. PureCycle Technologies has a one year low of $4.93 and a one year high of $17.37. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 47.59, a quick ratio of 1.57 and a current ratio of 1.71.

PureCycle Technologies (NASDAQ:PCT) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, May 6th. The company reported ($0.21) EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.26) by $0.05. The firm had revenue of $4.13 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.83 million. PureCycle Technologies had a negative return on equity of 393.01% and a negative net margin of 2,062.36%. On average, equities analysts forecast that PureCycle Technologies will post -0.97 EPS for the current year.

Institutional Trading of PureCycle Technologies

A number of large investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Appian Way Asset Management LP boosted its holdings in shares of PureCycle Technologies by 1.4% in the third quarter. Appian Way Asset Management LP now owns 4,315,655 shares of the company’s stock valued at $56,751,000 after purchasing an additional 59,676 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of PureCycle Technologies by 0.5% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 3,365,871 shares of the company’s stock valued at $28,918,000 after purchasing an additional 15,536 shares during the period. Simplify Asset Management Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of PureCycle Technologies by 227.4% in the fourth quarter. Simplify Asset Management Inc. now owns 1,933,564 shares of the company’s stock valued at $16,609,000 after purchasing an additional 1,342,955 shares during the period. Royal Bank of Canada boosted its holdings in shares of PureCycle Technologies by 41.8% in the fourth quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 1,671,756 shares of the company’s stock valued at $14,361,000 after purchasing an additional 492,975 shares during the period. Finally, PNC Financial Services Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of PureCycle Technologies by 18.2% in the first quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 1,445,556 shares of the company’s stock valued at $7,502,000 after purchasing an additional 222,996 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 63.01% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

PCT has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of PureCycle Technologies in a report on Thursday, January 22nd. TD Cowen cut their target price on PureCycle Technologies from $7.00 to $6.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, May 8th. Wall Street Zen cut PureCycle Technologies from a “sell” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a research note on Sunday. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald cut their target price on PureCycle Technologies from $16.00 to $14.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, February 27th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, one has given a Buy rating, one has assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $12.00.

PureCycle Technologies Company Profile

PureCycle Technologies, Inc operates as a recycling technology company focused on restoring waste polypropylene to a “virgin-like” state through a proprietary purification process licensed from Procter & Gamble. The company develops, owns and operates recycling facilities that convert used polypropylene feedstock—such as packaging and industrial plastics—into ultra‐pure recycled resin. This resin, known as Qualified Recycled Polymer (QRP), is designed to meet stringent quality specifications for applications in packaging, consumer goods and industrial products.

Headquartered in Orlando, Florida, PureCycle was established with technology development efforts dating back to licensing agreements in the mid-2010s and later spun off as a publicly traded entity in 2021.