Investors Buy High Volume of Replimune Group Call Options (NASDAQ:REPL)

Replimune Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:REPL) saw some unusual options trading on Thursday. Traders acquired 5,508 call options on the stock. This is an increase of approximately 652% compared to the average volume of 732 call options.

Insider Buying and Selling at Replimune Group

In other Replimune Group news, CAO Andrew Schwendenman sold 3,287 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, May 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $8.05, for a total value of $26,460.35. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 68,284 shares in the company, valued at approximately $549,686.20. This represents a 4.59% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, insider Christopher Sarchi sold 3,749 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, May 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $8.05, for a total transaction of $30,179.45. Following the sale, the insider now owns 128,296 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,032,782.80. This trade represents a 2.84% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 74,907 shares of company stock valued at $603,655. Insiders own 8.80% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its position in shares of Replimune Group by 42.7% during the fourth quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 778,163 shares of the company’s stock worth $9,425,000 after acquiring an additional 232,822 shares during the last quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. acquired a new position in Replimune Group during the 4th quarter worth $543,000. Swiss National Bank raised its stake in shares of Replimune Group by 57.4% in the 4th quarter. Swiss National Bank now owns 103,700 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,256,000 after purchasing an additional 37,800 shares in the last quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC lifted its position in shares of Replimune Group by 696.7% during the fourth quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC now owns 6,772 shares of the company’s stock worth $82,000 after purchasing an additional 5,922 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp lifted its position in shares of Replimune Group by 7.3% during the fourth quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 174,518 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,113,000 after purchasing an additional 11,893 shares during the last quarter. 92.53% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

REPL has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price target on Replimune Group from $16.00 to $18.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 26th. HC Wainwright increased their price target on shares of Replimune Group from $21.00 to $22.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $19.43.

Replimune Group Stock Performance

Shares of REPL stock opened at $8.76 on Friday. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $8.69 and its 200-day simple moving average is $11.24. The company has a current ratio of 11.43, a quick ratio of 11.43 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14. Replimune Group has a 52 week low of $4.92 and a 52 week high of $17.00. The company has a market cap of $674.65 million, a PE ratio of -2.85 and a beta of 0.68.

Replimune Group (NASDAQ:REPL) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, May 22nd. The company reported ($0.82) EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($0.75) by ($0.07). During the same quarter last year, the firm posted ($0.25) earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Replimune Group will post -2.97 EPS for the current year.

About Replimune Group

Replimune Group, Inc, a clinical-stage biotechnology company, focuses on the development of oncolytic immunotherapies to treat cancer. The company's proprietary tumor-directed oncolytic immunotherapy product candidates are designed and intended to activate the immune system against cancer. Its lead product candidate is RP1, a selectively replicating version of HSV-1 that expresses GALV-GP R(-) and human GM-CSF, which is in Phase I/II clinical trials for a range of solid tumors; and that has completed Phase II clinical trials for treating cutaneous squamous cell carcinoma.