Ocugen Sees Unusually High Options Volume (NASDAQ:OCGN)

Key Points

• Unusual options activity: investors bought 6,390 call options on Friday, about an 89% increase over the typical volume of 3,386 calls.
• Analyst outlook: two analysts rate Ocugen a Buy and one a Sell, leaving a consensus Hold rating with an average target price of $7.00, well above the current share price.
• Recent performance and profitability: shares traded at $1.41 (down ~2.4%) and the company reported quarterly EPS of -$0.07, missing estimates with deeply negative margins and ROE.

Ocugen, Inc. (NASDAQ:OCGN - Get Free Report) was the target of some unusual options trading activity on Friday. Stock investors acquired 6,390 call options on the company. This is an increase of approximately 89% compared to the typical volume of 3,386 call options.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

OCGN has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Chardan Capital reiterated a "buy" rating and issued a $7.00 price objective on shares of Ocugen in a research report on Friday, September 19th. Wall Street Zen upgraded Ocugen from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Saturday, September 20th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reissued a "sell (e+)" rating on shares of Ocugen in a report on Wednesday, October 8th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $7.00.

Ocugen Trading Down 2.4%

NASDAQ:OCGN traded down $0.04 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $1.41. The company had a trading volume of 1,373,272 shares, compared to its average volume of 4,459,376. The firm has a market cap of $438.81 million, a P/E ratio of -6.39 and a beta of 4.54. Ocugen has a fifty-two week low of $0.52 and a fifty-two week high of $1.90. The business's fifty day moving average is $1.35 and its two-hundred day moving average is $1.24. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 8.04, a quick ratio of 1.85 and a current ratio of 1.85.

Ocugen (NASDAQ:OCGN - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, November 5th. The company reported ($0.07) EPS for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of ($0.06) by ($0.01). Ocugen had a negative net margin of 1,192.18% and a negative return on equity of 491.22%. The company had revenue of $3.50 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $0.44 million. As a group, research analysts expect that Ocugen will post -0.2 earnings per share for the current year.

Institutional Trading of Ocugen

Several hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in Ocugen by 3.1% during the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 15,223,585 shares of the company's stock worth $24,814,000 after acquiring an additional 450,904 shares in the last quarter. GMT Capital Corp lifted its holdings in shares of Ocugen by 69.2% during the 1st quarter. GMT Capital Corp now owns 4,153,798 shares of the company's stock valued at $2,934,000 after purchasing an additional 1,698,840 shares in the last quarter. Rinkey Investments grew its position in shares of Ocugen by 1.2% in the 2nd quarter. Rinkey Investments now owns 1,179,006 shares of the company's stock valued at $1,144,000 after purchasing an additional 14,500 shares during the period. UBS Group AG grew its position in shares of Ocugen by 56.6% in the 3rd quarter. UBS Group AG now owns 1,024,879 shares of the company's stock valued at $1,671,000 after purchasing an additional 370,500 shares during the period. Finally, Nuveen LLC bought a new stake in Ocugen during the 1st quarter worth approximately $535,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 10.27% of the company's stock.

About Ocugen

Ocugen Inc is a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company focused on discovering, developing and commercializing gene therapies to treat rare inherited retinal diseases, as well as vaccines designed to address unmet needs in infectious diseases. Headquartered in Malvern, Pennsylvania, the company applies its proprietary gene therapy platform to create novel treatments aimed at preserving and restoring vision, while leveraging strategic partnerships to broaden its vaccine pipeline.

In its gene therapy portfolio, Ocugen is advancing multiple programs targeting retinal disorders.

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