Traders Buy Large Volume of Stratasys Call Options (NASDAQ:SSYS)

Stratasys Ltd. (NASDAQ:SSYS) was the target of some unusual options trading on Friday. Investors purchased 3,227 call options on the stock. This is an increase of approximately 155% compared to the typical volume of 1,267 call options.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on SSYS shares. StockNews.com lowered shares of Stratasys from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 26th. Cantor Fitzgerald increased their price target on shares of Stratasys from $12.00 to $15.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 4th. Finally, Needham & Company LLC boosted their price objective on Stratasys from $12.00 to $13.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, March 6th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Stratasys currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $12.20.

Stratasys Price Performance

Stratasys stock traded down $0.24 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $10.05. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 125,768 shares, compared to its average volume of 577,963. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $10.56 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $9.19. Stratasys has a 1-year low of $6.05 and a 1-year high of $12.88. The company has a market cap of $720.67 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -7.64 and a beta of 1.28.

Stratasys (NASDAQ:SSYS) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, March 5th. The technology company reported $0.12 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.11 by $0.01. Stratasys had a negative return on equity of 3.75% and a negative net margin of 16.13%. The business had revenue of $150.40 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $151.01 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $0.02 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 3.8% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts forecast that Stratasys will post -0.4 EPS for the current year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of SSYS. Headlands Technologies LLC acquired a new stake in Stratasys during the fourth quarter worth about $68,000. Teton Advisors Inc. bought a new position in Stratasys in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $89,000. Quantbot Technologies LP acquired a new position in Stratasys during the third quarter valued at approximately $90,000. SBI Securities Co. Ltd. bought a new stake in Stratasys during the fourth quarter worth $90,000. Finally, Hsbc Holdings PLC boosted its holdings in shares of Stratasys by 10.4% in the 4th quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC now owns 16,664 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $148,000 after purchasing an additional 1,564 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 75.77% of the company’s stock.

Stratasys Company Profile

Stratasys Ltd. provides connected polymer-based 3D printing solutions. It offers range of 3D printing systems, which includes polyjet printer, Fused Deposition Modeling (FDM) printers, stereolithography printing systems, origin P3 printers, and selective absorption fusion printer for additive manufacturing, and tooling and rapid prototyping for various vertical markets, such as automotive, aerospace, consumer products and healthcare.