Pacific Biosciences of California (NASDAQ:PACB) Upgraded at Wall Street Zen

Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Pacific Biosciences of California (NASDAQ:PACB) from a sell rating to a hold rating in a research note issued to investors on Saturday morning,Wall Street Zen reports.

Several other research analysts have also commented on the company. Weiss Ratings upgraded Pacific Biosciences of California from a “sell (e+)” rating to a “sell (d-)” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 13th. UBS Group began coverage on Pacific Biosciences of California in a research report on Wednesday, September 9th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $1.35 price target on the stock. Barclays upped their price target on Pacific Biosciences of California from $1.25 to $2.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 5th. Finally, Piper Sandler restated a “neutral” rating and set a $3.00 price objective (up from $2.00) on shares of Pacific Biosciences of California in a research note on Thursday, November 5th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Reduce” and an average target price of $2.57.

Pacific Biosciences of California Stock Performance

Shares of PACB stock opened at $2.36 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $733.56 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -5.62 and a beta of 2.21. Pacific Biosciences of California has a one year low of $1.07 and a one year high of $3.43. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $1.95 and its 200-day simple moving average is $1.62.

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

Insider Activity

In related news, insider James Gibson, II sold 661,815 shares of the stock in a transaction dated 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 sale, the insider owned 1,083,848 shares in the company, valued at $3,370,767.28. This represents a 37.91% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available 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 firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $1.13, for a total transaction of $30,409.43. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 2,705,853 shares in the company, valued at $3,057,613.89. This represents a 0.98% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards. 3.70% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Pacific Biosciences of California

Hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Essential Partners LLC bought a new position in Pacific Biosciences of California during the 1st quarter worth $25,000. Choreo LLC acquired a new stake in Pacific Biosciences of California in the third quarter worth $27,000. Interchange Capital Partners LLC bought a new stake in Pacific Biosciences of California in the third quarter valued at $28,000. Corient Private Wealth LP bought a new stake in Pacific Biosciences of California in the second quarter valued at $30,000. Finally, Pinegrove Venture Partners LLC bought a new stake in Pacific Biosciences of California in the second quarter valued at $34,584.

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.