Verition Fund Management LLC Acquires Shares of 23,445 Pacific Biosciences of California, Inc. (NASDAQ:PACB)

Verition Fund Management LLC acquired a new stake in Pacific Biosciences of California, Inc. (NASDAQ:PACB – Get Rating) in the third quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor acquired 23,445 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock, valued at approximately $136,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of Pacific Biosciences of California by 0.5% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 19,945,092 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $181,499,000 after purchasing an additional 90,216 shares in the last quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Holdings Inc. increased its stake in shares of Pacific Biosciences of California by 0.3% during the third quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Holdings Inc. now owns 14,391,962 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $83,545,000 after purchasing an additional 46,477 shares in the last quarter. Capital International Investors increased its stake in shares of Pacific Biosciences of California by 5.6% during the first quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 12,781,855 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $116,315,000 after purchasing an additional 675,537 shares in the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD increased its stake in shares of Pacific Biosciences of California by 68.5% during the second quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 10,284,090 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $45,456,000 after purchasing an additional 4,179,997 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Goldman Sachs Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of Pacific Biosciences of California by 190.5% during the second quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 8,438,572 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $37,299,000 after purchasing an additional 5,533,953 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.88% of the company’s stock.

Pacific Biosciences of California Stock Performance

NASDAQ:PACB opened at $8.30 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.59, a current ratio of 3.24 and a quick ratio of 3.04. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.05 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -5.93 and a beta of 1.67. The company’s 50-day moving average is $10.15 and its two-hundred day moving average is $8.63. Pacific Biosciences of California, Inc. has a 1-year low of $3.85 and a 1-year high of $14.20.

Pacific Biosciences of California (NASDAQ:PACB – Get Rating) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, February 16th. The biotechnology company reported ($0.35) earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($0.34) by ($0.01). The firm had revenue of $27.35 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $27.29 million. Pacific Biosciences of California had a negative net margin of 244.93% and a negative return on equity of 47.73%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 24.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned ($0.30) earnings per share. Analysts forecast that Pacific Biosciences of California, Inc. will post -1.26 EPS for the current year.

Insider Transactions at Pacific Biosciences of California

In other news, insider Susan G. Kim sold 5,045 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $9.49, for a total value of $47,877.05. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 323,505 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,070,062.45. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In other news, insider Susan G. Kim sold 5,045 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $9.49, for a total value of $47,877.05. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 323,505 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,070,062.45. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, insider Oene Mark Van sold 26,722 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, January 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $9.53, for a total transaction of $254,660.66. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 640,808 shares in the company, valued at $6,106,900.24. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 32,674 shares of company stock worth $311,853. 1.40% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts recently issued reports on PACB shares. Canaccord Genuity Group upped their price objective on shares of Pacific Biosciences of California from $12.00 to $14.00 in a research note on Wednesday, November 16th. Cantor Fitzgerald cut shares of Pacific Biosciences of California from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $12.00 price objective for the company. in a research note on Friday, January 20th. They noted that the move was a valuation call. Scotiabank started coverage on shares of Pacific Biosciences of California in a research note on Wednesday, January 4th. They set a “sector outperform” rating and a $12.00 price objective for the company. UBS Group started coverage on shares of Pacific Biosciences of California in a research note on Thursday, February 2nd. They set a “neutral” rating and a $13.00 price objective for the company. Finally, Piper Sandler dropped their price objective on shares of Pacific Biosciences of California from $11.00 to $10.00 in a research note on Wednesday, February 22nd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Pacific Biosciences of California currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $11.50.

About Pacific Biosciences of California

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Pacific Biosciences of California, Inc engages in the development, manufacture, and marketing of advanced sequencing solutions for genetic analysis. It operates through the following geographical segments: North America, Europe, and Asia Pacific. The company was founded by Stephen Turner and Joseph Vincent Bonventre on July 14, 2000 and is headquartered in Menlo Park, CA.