Traders Buy Large Volume of PepGen Call Options (NASDAQ:PEPG)

Key Points

• Investors bought 2,321 PepGen call options on Wednesday, 246% above the typical daily volume of 671; the stock rose 20.7% to $5.56.
• The rally followed positive Phase 2 FREEDOM2-DM1 results, which PepGen said showed strong splicing correction and improvements in functional measures. An FDA hold remains a hurdle for U.S. patient participation in the program.
• Analyst sentiment is broadly positive, with Bank of America upgrading to neutral and Wedbush raising its price target to $10; however, PepGen’s quarterly loss of $0.28 per share slightly missed expectations.

PepGen, Inc. (NASDAQ:PEPG - Get Free Report) was the target of unusually large options trading on Wednesday. Investors purchased 2,321 call options on the company. This is an increase of 246% compared to the typical daily volume of 671 call options.

PepGen Trading Up 20.7%

NASDAQ PEPG traded up $0.95 during trading hours on Wednesday, reaching $5.56. The company's stock had a trading volume of 8,872,633 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,546,449. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $2.69 and a 200 day simple moving average of $2.98. PepGen has a 52 week low of $1.31 and a 52 week high of $7.80. The stock has a market cap of $385.36 million, a PE ratio of -4.25 and a beta of 2.02.

PepGen (NASDAQ:PEPG - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, November 10th. The company reported ($0.28) EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($0.27) by ($0.01). As a group, equities analysts predict that PepGen will post -1.11 EPS for the current year.

Key Stories Impacting PepGen

Here are a few of the latest stories about PEPG:

• Positive Sentiment: PepGen reported positive Phase 2 FREEDOM2-DM1 results at the 10 mg/kg dose, including what the company described as the highest reported splicing correction and improvements across multiple functional measures. Coverage of the data drove a sharp rally in the shares. PepGen Announces Positive Phase 2 Results
• Negative Sentiment: An FDA hold reportedly continues to prevent American patients from participating in the DM1 program, presenting a potential development and access hurdle. FDA Hold Still Bars American Patients
• Negative Sentiment: Quarterly EPS was a loss of $0.28, slightly worse than the $0.27 loss analysts expected. Put-option buying also rose sharply, indicating some investors may be hedging or betting on downside.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Commodore Capital LP increased its position in PepGen by 31.6% in the first quarter. Commodore Capital LP now owns 4,475,000 shares of the company's stock worth $7,921,000 after buying an additional 1,075,000 shares during the period. ADAR1 Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of PepGen in the 2nd quarter worth about $4,664,000. BlackRock Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of PepGen in the 2nd quarter worth about $2,348,000. Kalehua Capital Management LLC bought a new stake in PepGen in the 1st quarter valued at about $1,770,000. Finally, GSA Capital Partners LLP bought a new stake in PepGen in the 2nd quarter valued at about $1,535,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 58.01% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms recently commented on PEPG. Bank of America upgraded PepGen from an "underperform" rating to a "neutral" rating and boosted their price target for the stock from $2.50 to $6.00 in a research note on Tuesday. HC Wainwright restated a "buy" rating on shares of PepGen in a research note on Wednesday, September 9th. Weiss Ratings upgraded PepGen from a "sell (e+)" rating to a "sell (d-)" rating in a research note on Tuesday, September 22nd. Wall Street Zen raised shares of PepGen from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Saturday. Finally, Wedbush boosted their price target on PepGen from $4.00 to $10.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Wednesday. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, one has issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $11.50.

PepGen Company Profile

PepGen Inc. is a clinical-stage biotechnology company developing genetic medicines for serious neuromuscular diseases. The company's technology is designed to improve the delivery of oligonucleotide therapeutics into skeletal and cardiac muscle, with the goal of addressing diseases caused by genetic mutations or abnormal RNA processing. PepGen's platform, known as Enhanced Delivery Oligonucleotides (EDO), combines therapeutic oligonucleotides with proprietary peptides intended to facilitate their distribution into muscle tissue.

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