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 released on Monday, Marketbeat Ratings reports.

PACB has been the subject of a number of other reports. StockNews.com raised Pacific Biosciences of California to a “sell” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 17th. Barclays reduced 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 research note on Wednesday, April 10th. UBS Group reduced their price objective on Pacific Biosciences of California from $12.50 to $12.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, February 16th. Sanford C. Bernstein dropped their target price 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. Finally, Scotiabank dropped their target price 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. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Pacific Biosciences of California currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $7.77.

Pacific Biosciences of California Stock Performance

Shares of Pacific Biosciences of California stock opened at $1.55 on Monday. Pacific Biosciences of California has a one year low of $1.25 and a one year high of $14.55. The company has a market cap of $415.33 million, a price-to-earnings 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. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $4.15 and its 200 day moving average price is $6.59.

Pacific Biosciences of California (NASDAQ:PACB) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, February 15th. The biotechnology company reported ($0.27) 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 company had revenue of $58.36 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $57.96 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned ($0.35) earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 113.3% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts predict 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 news, insider Oene Mark Van sold 33,560 shares of Pacific Biosciences of California stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $5.96, for a total transaction of $200,017.60. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 876,611 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,224,601.56. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In other Pacific Biosciences of California news, Director David W. Meline bought 40,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 6th. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $4.40 per share, with a total value of $176,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 40,000 shares in the company, valued at $176,000. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, insider Oene Mark Van sold 33,560 shares of Pacific Biosciences of California stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $5.96, for a total value of $200,017.60. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 876,611 shares in the company, valued at $5,224,601.56. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 37,359 shares of company stock valued at $218,843 over the last three months. 1.90% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Pacific Biosciences of California

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Fairfield Bush & CO. purchased a new stake in shares of Pacific Biosciences of California during the second quarter worth about $27,000. Captrust Financial Advisors increased its holdings in Pacific Biosciences of California by 217.2% in the second quarter. Captrust Financial Advisors now owns 6,163 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $27,000 after buying an additional 4,220 shares during the last quarter. Comerica Bank bought a new stake in Pacific Biosciences of California in the third quarter valued at about $46,000. KBC Group NV bought a new stake in Pacific Biosciences of California in the fourth quarter valued at about $53,000. Finally, Kayne Anderson Rudnick Investment Management LLC bought a new stake in Pacific Biosciences of California in the third quarter valued at about $59,000.

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.