Investors Buy High Volume of Call Options on PureCycle Technologies (NASDAQ:PCT)

PureCycle Technologies, Inc. (NASDAQ:PCT) saw some unusual options trading activity on Wednesday. Stock investors purchased 40,909 call options on the company. This is an increase of 220% compared to the average volume of 12,797 call options.

PureCycle Technologies Stock Performance

Shares of PCT traded down $0.02 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, hitting $4.41. 10,635,089 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 4,789,349. The company has a quick ratio of 2.42, a current ratio of 2.60 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 27.37. PureCycle Technologies has a 52 week low of $4.28 and a 52 week high of $15.49. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $6.29 and its 200-day simple moving average is $7.49. The firm has a market cap of $885.99 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -3.02 and a beta of 2.57.

PureCycle Technologies (NASDAQ:PCT) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, August 6th. The company reported ($0.80) earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($0.29) by ($0.51). The company had revenue of $4.51 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $6.11 million. PureCycle Technologies had a negative net margin of 1,618.84% and a negative return on equity of 612.39%. On average, equities research analysts expect that PureCycle Technologies will post -0.9 EPS for the current year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

PCT has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Alembic Global Advisors set a $16.00 target price on PureCycle Technologies in a report on Tuesday, June 16th. Cantor Fitzgerald decreased their price target on shares of PureCycle Technologies from $14.00 to $12.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, August 7th. Weiss Ratings restated a “sell (e+)” rating on shares of PureCycle Technologies in a report on Wednesday, September 2nd. Finally, Northland Securities set a $13.00 price target on PureCycle Technologies in a report on Friday, June 12th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating, one has assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, PureCycle Technologies has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $11.75.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other PureCycle Technologies news, Director Fernando Musa purchased 15,479 shares of PureCycle Technologies stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, September 4th. The stock was acquired at an average price of $6.38 per share, for a total transaction of $98,756.02. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director owned 175,983 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,122,771.54. This trade represents a 9.64% increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Insiders own 18.80% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On PureCycle Technologies

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. increased its stake in PureCycle Technologies by 163.8% in the second quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 228,225 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,851,000 after acquiring an additional 141,707 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp lifted its stake in PureCycle Technologies by 12.0% during the second quarter. State Street Corp now owns 3,331,674 shares of the company’s stock worth $27,020,000 after purchasing an additional 355,675 shares during the last quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company boosted its holdings in shares of PureCycle Technologies by 13.2% in the 2nd quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 66,815 shares of the company’s stock valued at $542,000 after purchasing an additional 7,773 shares in the last quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of PureCycle Technologies by 71.7% in the 2nd quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC now owns 23,092 shares of the company’s stock valued at $187,000 after purchasing an additional 9,641 shares during the last quarter. Finally, WINTON GROUP Ltd bought a new position in shares of PureCycle Technologies in the 2nd quarter valued at $1,028,000. 63.01% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

PureCycle Technologies Company Profile

PureCycle Technologies, Inc is a chemical recycling company that develops and operates technology designed to convert waste polypropylene plastic into recycled polypropylene resin. Unlike conventional mechanical recycling, which can leave behind colors, odors and other contaminants, PureCycle’s proprietary purification process is intended to separate impurities from polypropylene and produce a recycled material with properties similar to virgin resin.

The company’s products are recycled polypropylene pellets and related materials that can be used in applications such as packaging, consumer products, automotive components and other molded plastic goods.