Personalis Sees Unusually High Options Volume (NASDAQ:PSNL)

Personalis, Inc. (NASDAQ:PSNL) saw some unusual options trading activity on Thursday. Stock traders purchased 7,031 call options on the company. This represents an increase of approximately 888% compared to the typical daily volume of 712 call options.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CFO Aaron Tachibana sold 51,251 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, June 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $13.18, for a total transaction of $675,488.18. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 198,833 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,620,618.94. This represents a 20.49% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CEO Christopher M. Hall sold 100,000 shares of Personalis stock in a transaction on Friday, June 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $13.15, for a total transaction of $1,315,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 235,986 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,103,215.90. This trade represents a 29.76% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders have sold a total of 335,032 shares of company stock worth $4,091,929 in the last quarter. 4.20% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Caitong International Asset Management Co. Ltd boosted its holdings in Personalis by 76.1% in the 4th quarter. Caitong International Asset Management Co. Ltd now owns 3,423 shares of the company’s stock valued at $27,000 after purchasing an additional 1,479 shares during the period. Deutsche Bank AG grew its stake in Personalis by 4.5% in the 4th quarter. Deutsche Bank AG now owns 38,827 shares of the company’s stock worth $309,000 after buying an additional 1,655 shares in the last quarter. Royal Bank of Canada increased its holdings in shares of Personalis by 3.2% in the 1st quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 78,341 shares of the company’s stock worth $275,000 after buying an additional 2,395 shares during the last quarter. Howland Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Personalis by 0.9% during the 2nd quarter. Howland Capital Management LLC now owns 285,308 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,872,000 after acquiring an additional 2,500 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Intech Investment Management LLC grew its position in Personalis by 23.4% in the fourth quarter. Intech Investment Management LLC now owns 20,342 shares of the company’s stock worth $162,000 after acquiring an additional 3,851 shares in the last quarter. 61.91% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Personalis Trading Up 5.2%

Shares of NASDAQ:PSNL traded up $0.74 during mid-day trading on Thursday, hitting $14.85. 2,773,581 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,181,774. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $9.62 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $8.57. Personalis has a 12-month low of $3.84 and a 12-month high of $15.36. The stock has a market cap of $1.55 billion, a P/E ratio of -14.56 and a beta of 2.24.

Personalis (NASDAQ:PSNL) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 7th. The company reported ($0.29) earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($0.23) by ($0.06). Personalis had a negative net margin of 148.11% and a negative return on equity of 43.52%. The company had revenue of $15.47 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $14.48 million. As a group, analysts expect that Personalis will post -1.06 earnings per share for the current year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have recently weighed in on PSNL. Morgan Stanley lowered their target price on Personalis from $10.00 to $9.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, May 12th. BTIG Research reduced their price target on shares of Personalis from $13.00 to $11.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, May 11th. Weiss Ratings restated a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of Personalis in a research note on Tuesday, April 21st. Finally, Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of Personalis from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Saturday, June 13th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, one has given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $11.00.

About Personalis

Personalis, Inc (NASDAQ: PSNL) is a clinical‐stage genomics company that develops and markets advanced next‐generation sequencing (NGS) services and assays designed to accelerate precision medicine. The Company’s core offering is the ImmunoID NeXT™ Platform, which combines comprehensive tumor profiling—including whole exome, transcriptome, and T‐cell receptor sequencing—with proprietary bioinformatics to identify biomarkers and guide immuno‐oncology research. Personalis serves biopharmaceutical companies, academic institutions, and clinical research organizations seeking in‐depth insights into cancer, autoimmune diseases and other complex conditions.

In addition to its flagship ImmunoID NeXT™ Platform, Personalis offers a suite of customizable sequencing assays for biomarker discovery, clinical trial support and companion diagnostic development.