Traders Buy Large Volume of Call Options on Stratasys (NASDAQ:SSYS)

Stratasys, Ltd. (NASDAQ:SSYS - Get Free Report) was the target of some unusual options trading activity on Tuesday. Traders bought 4,508 call options on the company. This represents an increase of approximately 487% compared to the average volume of 768 call options.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Stratasys

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Inspire Investing LLC acquired a new position in Stratasys in the 1st quarter worth approximately $345,000. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. boosted its stake in shares of Stratasys by 3.1% during the 1st quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 212,555 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $2,148,000 after buying an additional 6,306 shares during the period. Invenomic Capital Management LP boosted its stake in shares of Stratasys by 111.9% during the 1st quarter. Invenomic Capital Management LP now owns 2,466,198 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $24,144,000 after buying an additional 1,302,264 shares during the period. Bosun Asset Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Stratasys during the 1st quarter valued at $569,000. Finally, OLD Mission Capital LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Stratasys during the 1st quarter valued at $128,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 75.77% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms recently commented on SSYS. Cantor Fitzgerald raised their price objective on shares of Stratasys from $12.00 to $15.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 4th. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Stratasys from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, May 15th. Finally, Needham & Company LLC lifted their price target on shares of Stratasys from $12.00 to $13.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, March 6th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $12.20.

Stratasys Stock Down 1.7%

Stratasys stock traded down $0.18 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $10.37. The company's stock had a trading volume of 901,991 shares, compared to its average volume of 565,381. The stock has a market capitalization of $743.74 million, a P/E ratio of -6.91 and a beta of 1.52. Stratasys has a twelve month low of $6.05 and a twelve month high of $12.88. The stock's fifty day moving average price is $10.19 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $10.07.

Stratasys (NASDAQ:SSYS - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 8th. The technology company reported $0.04 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $0.03 by $0.01. Stratasys had a negative net margin of 19.02% and a negative return on equity of 1.86%. The firm had revenue of $136.05 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $134.11 million. During the same quarter last year, the business posted ($0.02) EPS. The company's revenue was down 5.6% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts expect that Stratasys will post -0.4 earnings per share for the current year.

About Stratasys

Stratasys Ltd. provides connected polymer-based 3D printing solutions. It offers range of 3D printing systems, which includes polyjet printer, Fused Deposition Modeling (FDM) printers, stereolithography printing systems, origin P3 printers, and selective absorption fusion printer for additive manufacturing, and tooling and rapid prototyping for various vertical markets, such as automotive, aerospace, consumer products and healthcare.