Investors Purchase High Volume of Call Options on Siga Technologies (NASDAQ:SIGA)

Key Points

• Traders bought an unusually large number of call options — 1,200 call contracts on Wednesday, a roughly 1,438% increase versus the typical daily volume of 78, signaling heavy bullish options activity.
• Several institutional investors raised their stakes (including Vanguard, Dimensional, State Street, Geode and AQR), leaving institutions owning 55.40% of Siga’s shares, indicating notable institutional accumulation.
• Despite the options and institutional interest, the stock faces mixed signals: consensus analyst rating is Sell after a Weiss downgrade, the company reported (‑$0.08) EPS on $3.79M revenue last quarter, yet it paid a special $0.60 dividend and holds government contracts for its FDA‑approved antiviral TPOXX.

Siga Technologies Inc. (NASDAQ:SIGA - Get Free Report) saw unusually large options trading on Wednesday. Stock traders purchased 1,200 call options on the stock. This represents an increase of approximately 1,438% compared to the typical daily volume of 78 call options.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Siga Technologies

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Siga Technologies by 5.7% in the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 2,655,942 shares of the company's stock worth $24,302,000 after acquiring an additional 142,036 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its holdings in shares of Siga Technologies by 4.3% in the 4th quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 2,536,794 shares of the company's stock worth $15,500,000 after acquiring an additional 104,414 shares during the period. State Street Corp grew its holdings in shares of Siga Technologies by 4.0% in the 4th quarter. State Street Corp now owns 1,075,570 shares of the company's stock worth $6,572,000 after acquiring an additional 41,716 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Siga Technologies by 0.7% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,004,734 shares of the company's stock worth $6,140,000 after acquiring an additional 6,512 shares during the period. Finally, AQR Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Siga Technologies by 150.7% in the 4th quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 872,795 shares of the company's stock worth $5,333,000 after acquiring an additional 524,714 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 55.40% of the company's stock.

Siga Technologies Trading Down 1.3%

NASDAQ SIGA opened at $4.53 on Thursday. The stock has a market capitalization of $324.55 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.61 and a beta of 1.05. The business's 50 day moving average is $5.30 and its two-hundred day moving average is $6.27. Siga Technologies has a 12-month low of $4.29 and a 12-month high of $9.62.

Siga Technologies (NASDAQ:SIGA - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, March 10th. The company reported ($0.08) earnings per share for the quarter. The firm had revenue of $3.79 million during the quarter. Siga Technologies had a return on equity of 11.25% and a net margin of 24.61%.

Siga Technologies Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a special dividend, which was paid on Thursday, April 23rd. Investors of record on Tuesday, April 7th were issued a $0.60 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, April 7th.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Separately, Weiss Ratings cut Siga Technologies from a "hold (c-)" rating to a "sell (d+)" rating in a research report on Friday, April 10th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Sell rating, Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Sell".

Siga Technologies Company Profile

Siga Technologies, Inc NASDAQ: SIGA is a specialty pharmaceutical company focused on the development, manufacturing and commercialization of medical countermeasures for public health emergencies and biological threats. The company's flagship product, TPOXX® (tecovirimat), is the first and only antiviral approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for the treatment of smallpox. Siga has entered into procurement and development contracts with U.S. government agencies, including the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA) and the Department of Defense, to supply TPOXX® for the Strategic National Stockpile.

Founded in 2002, Siga has built a pipeline of therapies targeting high-consequence pathogens such as smallpox, plague and other potential biothreat agents.

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