Traders Buy High Volume of Ocular Therapeutix Call Options (NASDAQ:OCUL)

Key Points

• Options activity surged: Traders bought 3,355 Ocular Therapeutix call options, approximately 48% above the average volume of 2,273 contracts.
• Institutional ownership expanded: BlackRock initiated a roughly $190.3 million position, while Avoro Capital, Summer Road, and Octagon Capital increased their stakes. Institutions now own 59.21% of the company.
• Shares declined but analysts remain optimistic: OCUL fell to $7.91, while the analyst consensus remained “Moderate Buy” with a $25.75 target price. Insiders also sold shares through pre-arranged plans to cover tax obligations.

Ocular Therapeutix, Inc. (NASDAQ:OCUL - Get Free Report) was the recipient of unusually large options trading activity on Monday. Traders acquired 3,355 call options on the company. This is an increase of approximately 48% compared to the average volume of 2,273 call options.

Insider Activity

In other news, insider Jeffrey S. Heier sold 3,296 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Monday, August 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $10.78, for a total transaction of $35,530.88. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 318,326 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $3,431,554.28. This trade represents a 1.02% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards. Also, insider Pravin Dugel sold 21,649 shares of Ocular Therapeutix stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $10.77, for a total value of $233,159.73. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 2,525,429 shares in the company, valued at approximately $27,198,870.33. This represents a 0.85% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 29,877 shares of company stock worth $321,827. Insiders own 3.10% of the company's stock.

Institutional Trading of Ocular Therapeutix

Hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. BlackRock Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Ocular Therapeutix during the second quarter valued at approximately $190,278,000. Avoro Capital Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of Ocular Therapeutix by 5.1% in the fourth quarter. Avoro Capital Advisors LLC now owns 10,777,777 shares of the biopharmaceutical company's stock worth $130,842,000 after purchasing an additional 527,777 shares during the last quarter. Summer Road LLC grew its stake in shares of Ocular Therapeutix by 6.9% in the first quarter. Summer Road LLC now owns 11,879,825 shares of the biopharmaceutical company's stock worth $100,622,000 after purchasing an additional 771,270 shares during the last quarter. Octagon Capital Advisors LP increased its holdings in Ocular Therapeutix by 20.7% during the 1st quarter. Octagon Capital Advisors LP now owns 3,166,600 shares of the biopharmaceutical company's stock valued at $26,821,000 after purchasing an additional 543,000 shares during the period. Finally, Commodore Capital LP purchased a new position in Ocular Therapeutix during the 1st quarter valued at about $21,810,000. 59.21% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Ocular Therapeutix Price Performance

NASDAQ:OCUL traded down $1.74 during midday trading on Monday, hitting $7.91. The company had a trading volume of 6,707,465 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,927,980. Ocular Therapeutix has a 52-week low of $6.23 and a 52-week high of $16.44. The stock's fifty day moving average price is $9.92 and its 200-day moving average price is $9.35. The company has a market capitalization of $1.74 billion, a PE ratio of -5.56 and a beta of 0.97. The company has a quick ratio of 13.03, a current ratio of 13.10 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14.

Ocular Therapeutix (NASDAQ:OCUL - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Monday, August 3rd. The biopharmaceutical company reported ($0.35) earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of ($0.40) by $0.05. The business had revenue of $13.47 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $13.20 million. Ocular Therapeutix had a negative return on equity of 59.89% and a negative net margin of 579.10%.The company's revenue for the quarter was down .1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business posted ($0.39) earnings per share. As a group, research analysts expect that Ocular Therapeutix will post -1.47 earnings per share for the current year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have recently commented on OCUL. Wall Street Zen upgraded Ocular Therapeutix from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Saturday, August 8th. Weiss Ratings reiterated a "sell (d-)" rating on shares of Ocular Therapeutix in a report on Friday, July 17th. HC Wainwright reissued a "buy" rating and issued a $25.00 price objective on shares of Ocular Therapeutix in a research report on Wednesday, September 16th. Zacks Research raised shares of Ocular Therapeutix from a "strong sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 12th. Finally, Chardan Capital restated a "buy" rating and issued a $23.00 price objective on shares of Ocular Therapeutix in a research note on Wednesday, September 16th. Eleven investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, one has issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $25.75.

About Ocular Therapeutix

Ocular Therapeutix, Inc is a biopharmaceutical company focused on developing and commercializing therapies for diseases and conditions affecting the eye. The company uses its proprietary hydrogel-based technology to design sustained-release treatments intended to deliver medication to ocular tissues over extended periods and potentially reduce the need for frequent eye drops or injections.

Its commercial product, Dextenza, is a resorbable intracanalicular insert that delivers dexamethasone to the ocular surface for the treatment of inflammation and pain following ophthalmic surgery.

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