Pacific Biosciences of California (NASDAQ:PACB) Shares Down 4.7% – Here’s What Happened

Shares of Pacific Biosciences of California, Inc. (NASDAQ:PACB) were down 4.7% during trading on Wednesday. The company traded as low as $2.07 and last traded at $2.1350. Approximately 6,137,362 shares changed hands during trading, a decline of 27% from the average daily volume of 8,357,454 shares. The stock had previously closed at $2.24.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts have recently weighed in on PACB shares. UBS Group reduced their price target on Pacific Biosciences of California from $3.05 to $2.70 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Monday. Barclays raised their price objective on shares of Pacific Biosciences of California from $1.25 to $2.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a report on Thursday, November 5th. Piper Sandler reiterated a “neutral” rating and set a $3.00 target price (up from $2.00) on shares of Pacific Biosciences of California in a research report on Thursday, November 5th. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Pacific Biosciences of California from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday. Finally, Weiss Ratings raised shares of Pacific Biosciences of California from a “sell (e+)” rating to a “sell (d-)” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 13th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Reduce” and a consensus price target of $2.57.

Pacific Biosciences of California Stock Performance

The stock has a market capitalization of $664.98 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -5.06 and a beta of 2.21. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $1.96 and a 200 day simple moving average of $1.62.

Pacific Biosciences of California (NASDAQ:PACB) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, November 4th. The biotechnology company reported ($0.11) EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.13) by $0.02. Pacific Biosciences of California had a negative return on equity of 5,752.12% and a negative net margin of 81.31%. The firm had revenue of $40.56 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $39.31 million. As a group, equities analysts predict that Pacific Biosciences of California, Inc. will post -0.51 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at Pacific Biosciences of California

In other Pacific Biosciences of California news, insider James Gibson, II sold 661,815 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, October 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $3.11, for a total transaction of $2,058,244.65. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 1,083,848 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,370,767.28. This represents a 37.91% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, insider Mark Van Oene sold 26,911 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred 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 directly owned 2,705,853 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,057,613.89. This represents a 0.98% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. 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.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Pacific Biosciences of California

A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. BlackRock Inc. bought a new stake in Pacific Biosciences of California during the second quarter valued at $54,330,000. Bank of America Corp DE bought a new position in shares of Pacific Biosciences of California in the 2nd quarter worth about $2,265,000. Hhlr Advisors LTD. bought a new position in shares of Pacific Biosciences of California in the 2nd quarter worth about $1,544,000. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its position in shares of Pacific Biosciences of California by 177.9% in the 1st quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 899,550 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $1,187,000 after acquiring an additional 575,801 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp acquired a new position in shares of Pacific Biosciences of California in the 2nd quarter valued at about $1,290,000.

About Pacific Biosciences of California

Pacific Biosciences of California, Inc. (NASDAQ: PACB) is a life sciences technology company that develops and supplies DNA sequencing systems, consumables and related software. The company is best known for its single-molecule, real-time (SMRT) sequencing technology, which produces highly accurate long-read data used to analyze complex genomes, structural variation, genetic disease and other biological information. PacBio’s product portfolio includes the Revio long-read sequencing system, the Sequel II and Sequel IIe platforms, sequencing consumables and the associated data-analysis software.