Pacira BioSciences, Inc. (NASDAQ:PCRX) Receives Consensus Rating of "Hold" from Brokerages

Key Points

• Consensus "Hold": Six analysts give Pacira BioSciences a consensus rating of Hold (2 sell, 1 hold, 3 buy) with an average 12‑month price target of $30.75.
• Quarterly miss: Pacira reported $0.57 EPS vs. $0.85 expected and revenue of $196.9M vs. $201.9M, with EPS down from $0.91 year‑ago; the company has a market cap of about $914M and a high trailing P/E of 150.47.
• Insider selling and institutional ownership: Insiders sold 8,677 shares totaling roughly $192k over the past 90 days, while institutional investors hold the vast majority of the stock (about 99.7%).

Shares of Pacira BioSciences, Inc. (NASDAQ:PCRX - Get Free Report) have been assigned a consensus recommendation of "Hold" from the six research firms that are currently covering the firm, Marketbeat reports. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, one has given a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company. The average 12 month price target among analysts that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $30.75.

Several research firms have issued reports on PCRX. Wall Street Zen cut shares of Pacira BioSciences from a "strong-buy" rating to a "buy" rating in a research note on Saturday, February 28th. HC Wainwright reaffirmed a "buy" rating and issued a $38.00 price target on shares of Pacira BioSciences in a report on Friday, January 9th. Barclays began coverage on Pacira BioSciences in a research report on Tuesday, December 9th. They set an "equal weight" rating and a $27.00 target price for the company. Weiss Ratings restated a "sell (d+)" rating on shares of Pacira BioSciences in a research note on Monday, December 29th. Finally, Zacks Research lowered Pacira BioSciences from a "hold" rating to a "strong sell" rating in a report on Monday, March 9th.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, SVP Lauren Riker sold 4,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $20.81, for a total transaction of $83,240.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president directly owned 52,313 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,088,633.53. This represents a 7.10% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, insider Jonathan Slonin sold 3,261 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $22.82, for a total value of $74,416.02. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 223,640 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,103,464.80. This represents a 1.44% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders have sold a total of 8,677 shares of company stock valued at $191,980 over the last ninety days. 6.40% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Pacira BioSciences

A number of institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in PCRX. Doma Perpetual Capital Management LLC increased its stake in Pacira BioSciences by 49.7% in the 3rd quarter. Doma Perpetual Capital Management LLC now owns 2,701,324 shares of the company's stock worth $69,613,000 after purchasing an additional 897,255 shares during the period. Hussman Strategic Advisors Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Pacira BioSciences in the third quarter worth about $2,706,000. Impax Asset Management Group plc lifted its holdings in Pacira BioSciences by 27.7% in the 3rd quarter. Impax Asset Management Group plc now owns 600,027 shares of the company's stock worth $15,463,000 after buying an additional 130,000 shares during the period. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC bought a new stake in shares of Pacira BioSciences in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $1,948,000. Finally, American Century Companies Inc. boosted its holdings in Pacira BioSciences by 77.2% in the second quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 1,182,513 shares of the company's stock valued at $28,262,000 after acquiring an additional 515,090 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 99.73% of the company's stock.

Pacira BioSciences Stock Performance

Shares of PCRX opened at $22.57 on Friday. Pacira BioSciences has a 52-week low of $18.80 and a 52-week high of $27.64. The stock's 50-day simple moving average is $21.72 and its 200 day simple moving average is $23.56. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.54, a quick ratio of 3.28 and a current ratio of 4.54. The stock has a market capitalization of $913.86 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 150.47 and a beta of 0.21.

Pacira BioSciences (NASDAQ:PCRX - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 26th. The company reported $0.57 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.85 by ($0.28). Pacira BioSciences had a net margin of 0.97% and a return on equity of 10.39%. The company had revenue of $196.87 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $201.93 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.91 earnings per share. The company's quarterly revenue was up 5.1% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts forecast that Pacira BioSciences will post 2.41 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Pacira BioSciences Company Profile

Pacira BioSciences, Inc is a specialty pharmaceutical company focused on developing and commercializing non-opioid, non-addictive pain management and regenerative health solutions. The company's flagship product, EXPAREL, is a bupivacaine liposome injectable suspension designed to provide long-lasting postsurgical analgesia. EXPAREL is used by clinicians across a broad range of surgical procedures to reduce reliance on opioid medications and to help manage acute postoperative pain.

In addition to its marketed offering, Pacira maintains an active pipeline of investigational products aimed at addressing unmet needs in pain management and inflammation control.

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