Pacific Biosciences of California (NASDAQ:PACB) Downgraded to Neutral at JPMorgan Chase & Co.

JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered shares of Pacific Biosciences of California (NASDAQ:PACB) from an overweight rating to a neutral rating in a report issued on Monday, MarketBeat.com reports.

PACB has been the topic of several other research reports. StockNews.com upgraded Pacific Biosciences of California to a sell rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 17th. Scotiabank cut their price objective on Pacific Biosciences of California from $15.00 to $8.00 and set a sector outperform rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, April 18th. Barclays cut their price objective on Pacific Biosciences of California from $8.00 to $3.00 and set an equal weight rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, April 10th. TD Cowen cut their price objective on Pacific Biosciences of California from $12.00 to $2.50 and set a buy rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, April 17th. Finally, UBS Group cut their price objective on Pacific Biosciences of California from $12.50 to $12.00 and set a buy rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, February 16th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of Hold and a consensus price target of $7.77.

Pacific Biosciences of California Trading Up 0.6 %

Shares of PACB opened at $1.56 on Monday. The company has a market capitalization of $418.01 million, a P/E ratio of -1.29 and a beta of 1.83. Pacific Biosciences of California has a one year low of $1.25 and a one year high of $14.55. 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 stock has a 50-day moving average price of $4.05 and a 200 day moving average price of $6.54.

Pacific Biosciences of California (NASDAQ:PACB) last issued its quarterly 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. The firm had revenue of $58.36 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $57.96 million. Pacific Biosciences of California had a negative return on equity of 40.23% and a negative net margin of 152.97%. Pacific Biosciences of California’s revenue for the quarter was up 113.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted ($0.35) earnings per share. Sell-side analysts forecast that Pacific Biosciences of California will post -1.01 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at Pacific Biosciences of California

In other Pacific Biosciences of California news, Director David W. Meline bought 40,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 6th. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $4.40 per share, for a total transaction of $176,000.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 40,000 shares in the company, valued at $176,000. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other Pacific Biosciences of California news, insider Oene Mark Van sold 33,560 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, February 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $5.96, for a total transaction of $200,017.60. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 876,611 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,224,601.56. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Director David W. Meline purchased 40,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 6th. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $4.40 per share, with a total value of $176,000.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the director now owns 40,000 shares in the company, valued at approximately $176,000. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 37,359 shares of company stock worth $218,843 in the last three months. 1.90% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Pacific Biosciences of California

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. ARK Investment Management LLC boosted its stake in Pacific Biosciences of California by 15.7% during the 4th quarter. ARK Investment Management LLC now owns 34,504,273 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $338,487,000 after purchasing an additional 4,681,833 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Pacific Biosciences of California by 15.1% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 26,789,552 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $262,806,000 after acquiring an additional 3,514,792 shares in the last quarter. Jackson Square Partners LLC boosted its stake in shares of Pacific Biosciences of California by 40.0% during the 4th quarter. Jackson Square Partners LLC now owns 9,704,766 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $95,204,000 after acquiring an additional 2,770,901 shares in the last quarter. Bellevue Group AG boosted its stake in shares of Pacific Biosciences of California by 1.0% during the 4th quarter. Bellevue Group AG now owns 7,317,128 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $71,781,000 after acquiring an additional 71,940 shares in the last quarter. Finally, FMR LLC boosted its stake in shares of Pacific Biosciences of California by 23.9% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 4,622,920 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $38,601,000 after acquiring an additional 892,145 shares in the last quarter.

About Pacific Biosciences of California

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.