Pacific Biosciences of California (NASDAQ:PACB) Lowered to “Neutral” at JPMorgan Chase & Co.

Pacific Biosciences of California (NASDAQ:PACB) was downgraded by equities researchers at JPMorgan Chase & Co. from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating in a report issued on Monday, Marketbeat.com reports.

PACB has been the topic of several other reports. Sanford C. Bernstein decreased their price target on Pacific Biosciences of California from $9.00 to $2.50 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday. Scotiabank decreased their price target on Pacific Biosciences of California from $15.00 to $8.00 and set a “sector outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday. StockNews.com raised Pacific Biosciences of California to a “sell” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 17th. Barclays cut their price objective on Pacific Biosciences of California from $8.00 to $3.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, April 10th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group lowered Pacific Biosciences of California from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and cut their price objective for the stock from $7.00 to $2.50 in a report on Thursday. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $7.77.

Pacific Biosciences of California Trading Up 6.2 %

Shares of Pacific Biosciences of California stock opened at $1.55 on Monday. Pacific Biosciences of California has a 52-week low of $1.25 and a 52-week high of $14.55. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $4.15 and its 200 day simple moving average is $6.59. The stock has a market capitalization of $415.33 million, a P/E ratio of -1.28 and a beta of 1.83. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.27, a quick ratio of 7.21 and a current ratio of 7.81.

Pacific Biosciences of California (NASDAQ:PACB) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 15th. The biotechnology company reported ($0.27) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.29) by $0.02. Pacific Biosciences of California had a negative return on equity of 40.23% and a negative net margin of 152.97%. The business had revenue of $58.36 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $57.96 million. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted ($0.35) EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 113.3% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Pacific Biosciences of California will post -1.01 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Pacific Biosciences of California

In other Pacific Biosciences of California news, insider Oene Mark Van sold 33,560 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $5.96, for a total value of $200,017.60. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 876,611 shares in the company, valued at $5,224,601.56. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. In related news, insider Oene Mark Van sold 33,560 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $5.96, for a total transaction of $200,017.60. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 876,611 shares in the company, valued at $5,224,601.56. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Director David W. Meline bought 40,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 6th. The shares were acquired at an average price of $4.40 per share, with a total value of $176,000.00. Following the acquisition, the director now owns 40,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $176,000. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 37,359 shares of company stock worth $218,843. 1.90% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Pacific Biosciences of California

Institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Moody Aldrich Partners LLC bought a new position in Pacific Biosciences of California in the fourth quarter worth $4,103,000. ARK Investment Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Pacific Biosciences of California by 15.7% in the fourth quarter. ARK Investment Management LLC now owns 34,504,273 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $338,487,000 after acquiring an additional 4,681,833 shares during the last quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB grew its stake in shares of Pacific Biosciences of California by 37.5% in the third quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 149,131 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $1,255,000 after acquiring an additional 40,667 shares during the last quarter. Qube Research & Technologies Ltd grew its stake in shares of Pacific Biosciences of California by 452.8% in the third quarter. Qube Research & Technologies Ltd now owns 330,331 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $2,758,000 after acquiring an additional 270,573 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Assenagon Asset Management S.A. grew its stake in shares of Pacific Biosciences of California by 2,201.0% in the fourth quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 3,041,624 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $29,838,000 after acquiring an additional 2,909,439 shares during the last quarter.

Pacific Biosciences of California Company Profile

Pacific Biosciences of California, Inc designs, develops, and manufactures sequencing solution to resolve genetically complex problems. The company provides sequencing systems; consumable products, including single molecule real-time (SMRT) technology; long-red sequencing; and various reagent kits designed for specific workflow, such as preparation kit to convert DNA into SMRTbell double-stranded DNA library formats, including molecular biology reagents, such as ligase, buffers, and exonucleases.