Stock Traders Purchase High Volume of Call Options on Galapagos (NASDAQ:GLPG)

Galapagos NV (NASDAQ:GLPG - Get Free Report) saw some unusual options trading on Monday. Stock traders bought 5,008 call options on the stock. This is an increase of approximately 626% compared to the typical volume of 690 call options.

Galapagos Stock Down 0.1 %

Galapagos stock traded down $0.04 during trading hours on Thursday, hitting $26.89. The company had a trading volume of 40,032 shares, compared to its average volume of 210,793. Galapagos has a one year low of $22.36 and a one year high of $31.23. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $25.40 and a 200 day moving average of $26.16.

Galapagos (NASDAQ:GLPG - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 23rd. The biotechnology company reported ($2.47) earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($0.23) by ($2.24). The company had revenue of $97.33 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $72.22 million. As a group, analysts expect that Galapagos will post -1.6 EPS for the current year.

Institutional Trading of Galapagos

A number of institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of GLPG. R Squared Ltd bought a new stake in Galapagos during the fourth quarter worth $26,000. GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its position in shares of Galapagos by 77.4% during the 4th quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 2,233 shares of the biotechnology company's stock worth $61,000 after buying an additional 974 shares during the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. boosted its stake in Galapagos by 5.9% in the fourth quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 25,852 shares of the biotechnology company's stock valued at $711,000 after buying an additional 1,431 shares in the last quarter. QRG Capital Management Inc. grew its position in Galapagos by 21.7% in the fourth quarter. QRG Capital Management Inc. now owns 10,455 shares of the biotechnology company's stock valued at $288,000 after acquiring an additional 1,866 shares during the last quarter. Finally, BNP Paribas Financial Markets raised its stake in Galapagos by 45.9% during the fourth quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 8,972 shares of the biotechnology company's stock worth $247,000 after acquiring an additional 2,824 shares in the last quarter. 32.46% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

GLPG has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. TD Cowen downgraded shares of Galapagos from a "strong-buy" rating to a "strong sell" rating in a report on Thursday, January 9th. Morgan Stanley downgraded shares of Galapagos from an "equal weight" rating to an "underweight" rating and cut their target price for the company from $31.00 to $22.00 in a research note on Friday, February 14th. Barclays reissued an "underweight" rating on shares of Galapagos in a research report on Thursday, January 23rd. Finally, StockNews.com cut Galapagos from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a research report on Friday, April 25th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and four have issued a hold rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of "Reduce" and a consensus target price of $25.33.

Galapagos Company Profile

Galapagos NV, a biotechnology company, develops medicines focusing on oncology and immunology primarily in the United States and Europe. The company's pipeline products comprise GLPG3667 that has completed phase 1b trial; GLPG5101, a CD19 CAR-T product candidate manufactured at point-of-care, currently in Phase1/2 trial in relapsed/refractory non-hodgkin lymphoma; GLPG5201, a CD19 CAR-T product candidates manufactured at point-of-care, currently in phase 1/2 trial in replapsed/refractory chronic lymphocytic leukemia; and GLPG5301, a BCMA CAR-T product candidate manufactured at point-of-care, currently in phase 1/2 in relapsed/refractory multiple myeloma.