Pacific Biosciences of California (NASDAQ:PACB) Shares Up 11% – Here’s Why

Pacific Biosciences of California, Inc. (NASDAQ:PACB)’s share price traded up 11% on Thursday . The company traded as high as $1.65 and last traded at $1.6650. Approximately 1,090,508 shares were traded during trading, a decline of 83% from the average daily volume of 6,563,528 shares. The stock had previously closed at $1.50.

Analyst Ratings Changes

PACB has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Zacks Research cut shares of Pacific Biosciences of California from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, April 20th. Barclays lifted their price objective on Pacific Biosciences of California from $1.00 to $1.50 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research note on Monday, May 11th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reissued a “sell (e+)” rating on shares of Pacific Biosciences of California in a research report on Tuesday, April 21st. One analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating, two have given a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Reduce” and a consensus target price of $1.83.

Pacific Biosciences of California Stock Down 3.1%

The firm has a market cap of $484.54 million, a P/E ratio of -3.63 and a beta of 2.29. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $1.44 and its 200-day moving average is $1.63.

Pacific Biosciences of California (NASDAQ:PACB) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 7th. The biotechnology company reported ($0.12) earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.17) by $0.05. The firm had revenue of $37.18 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $39.94 million. Pacific Biosciences of California had a negative net margin of 80.35% and a negative return on equity of 571.06%. As a group, analysts expect that Pacific Biosciences of California, Inc. will post -0.5 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Pacific Biosciences of California

Hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Creative Planning increased its stake in Pacific Biosciences of California by 245.9% during the second quarter. Creative Planning now owns 175,690 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $218,000 after acquiring an additional 124,893 shares during the period. Cetera Investment Advisers lifted its position in shares of Pacific Biosciences of California by 10.1% in the 2nd quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 104,725 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $130,000 after acquiring an additional 9,617 shares during the period. Prudential Financial Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Pacific Biosciences of California by 73.0% during the 2nd quarter. Prudential Financial Inc. now owns 35,684 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $44,000 after purchasing an additional 15,062 shares in the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. grew its holdings in shares of Pacific Biosciences of California by 60.0% during the 2nd quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 839,340 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $1,041,000 after purchasing an additional 314,697 shares in the last quarter. Finally, HUB Investment Partners LLC bought a new stake in shares of Pacific Biosciences of California during the second quarter valued at approximately $77,000.

About Pacific Biosciences of California

Pacific Biosciences of California, Inc develops, manufactures and sells high-performance DNA sequencing systems for genetic and genomic analysis. The company’s proprietary single-molecule, real-time (SMRT) sequencing technology is designed to enable long-read sequencing, offering high accuracy for applications such as de novo genome assembly, transcriptome characterization and structural variation analysis. Pacific Biosciences markets a suite of instruments, including the Sequel and Sequel IIe systems, alongside reagents, consumables and data analysis software to support a range of life science research.

Founded in 2004 and headquartered in Menlo Park, California, Pacific Biosciences has expanded its global reach by serving academic institutions, biotechnology and pharmaceutical companies, and government research centers across North America, Europe and Asia.