Rice Hall James & Associates LLC Decreases Stock Holdings in Pacira BioSciences, Inc. $PCRX

Key Points

• Rice Hall James & Associates cut its Pacira BioSciences stake by 23.5% in the fourth quarter, selling 55,752 shares and leaving it with 181,255 shares valued at about $4.69 million.
• Analyst sentiment is mixed but cautious: Pacira currently carries an average Hold rating, with a consensus price target of $29.40, while recent firms have both upgraded and lowered ratings and targets.
• Pacira’s latest quarterly results were mixed: revenue rose 5% year over year to $177.38 million and beat estimates, but earnings per share of $0.60 slightly missed the $0.61 consensus. Insiders have also been selling shares, including the SVP and CFO in recent months.

Rice Hall James & Associates LLC trimmed its position in shares of Pacira BioSciences, Inc. (NASDAQ:PCRX - Free Report) by 23.5% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 181,255 shares of the company's stock after selling 55,752 shares during the period. Rice Hall James & Associates LLC owned approximately 0.42% of Pacira BioSciences worth $4,691,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. raised its holdings in shares of Pacira BioSciences by 5,900.0% during the 4th quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. now owns 1,500 shares of the company's stock worth $39,000 after acquiring an additional 1,475 shares in the last quarter. Kestra Advisory Services LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Pacira BioSciences during the 4th quarter worth approximately $48,000. Eurizon Capital SGR S.p.A. purchased a new stake in shares of Pacira BioSciences during the 4th quarter worth approximately $51,000. Global Retirement Partners LLC raised its holdings in shares of Pacira BioSciences by 479.4% during the 4th quarter. Global Retirement Partners LLC now owns 2,028 shares of the company's stock worth $52,000 after acquiring an additional 1,678 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Hantz Financial Services Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Pacira BioSciences by 127.3% during the 4th quarter. Hantz Financial Services Inc. now owns 2,573 shares of the company's stock worth $67,000 after acquiring an additional 1,441 shares in the last quarter. 99.73% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have recently issued reports on PCRX. Zacks Research raised Pacira BioSciences from a "strong sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Tuesday, April 7th. Wall Street Zen cut Pacira BioSciences from a "strong-buy" rating to a "buy" rating in a report on Saturday, February 28th. Barclays decreased their price objective on Pacira BioSciences from $27.00 to $25.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, March 26th. Royal Bank Of Canada increased their price target on Pacira BioSciences from $22.00 to $24.00 and gave the company a "sector perform" rating in a report on Friday, May 1st. Finally, Weiss Ratings upgraded Pacira BioSciences from a "sell (d)" rating to a "sell (d+)" rating in a report on Wednesday, May 20th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, three have issued a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Pacira BioSciences currently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $29.40.

Pacira BioSciences Stock Performance

NASDAQ:PCRX opened at $22.74 on Tuesday. The stock's fifty day moving average is $23.58 and its 200 day moving average is $23.27. Pacira BioSciences, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $18.80 and a fifty-two week high of $27.64. The firm has a market capitalization of $894.82 million, a PE ratio of 189.52 and a beta of 0.29. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.56, a quick ratio of 3.35 and a current ratio of 4.73.

Pacira BioSciences (NASDAQ:PCRX - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 30th. The company reported $0.60 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.61 by ($0.01). Pacira BioSciences had a net margin of 0.70% and a return on equity of 10.24%. The company had revenue of $177.38 million for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $171.80 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.65 EPS. The business's quarterly revenue was up 5.0% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Pacira BioSciences, Inc. will post 1.91 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Pacira BioSciences

In related news, SVP Lauren Riker sold 6,115 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, June 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $23.50, for a total transaction of $143,702.50. Following the sale, the senior vice president owned 62,284 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,463,674. This represents a 8.94% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CFO Shawn Cross sold 12,941 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, April 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $25.16, for a total value of $325,595.56. Following the sale, the chief financial officer owned 105,341 shares in the company, valued at $2,650,379.56. The trade was a 10.94% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders have sold a total of 31,115 shares of company stock worth $771,896 in the last 90 days. 6.40% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Pacira BioSciences Profile

Pacira BioSciences, Inc is a specialty pharmaceutical company focused on developing and commercializing non-opioid, non-addictive pain management and regenerative health solutions. The company's flagship product, EXPAREL, is a bupivacaine liposome injectable suspension designed to provide long-lasting postsurgical analgesia. EXPAREL is used by clinicians across a broad range of surgical procedures to reduce reliance on opioid medications and to help manage acute postoperative pain.

In addition to its marketed offering, Pacira maintains an active pipeline of investigational products aimed at addressing unmet needs in pain management and inflammation control.

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