Traders Buy Large Volume of Call Options on SELLAS Life Sciences Group (NASDAQ:SLS)

Key Points

• SELLAS Life Sciences Group experienced a significant increase in options trading, with over 10,263 call options purchased, marking a 90% rise compared to the average daily volume.
• The company's stock price rose 4.6% to $1.71, while it maintains a market capitalization of $179.54 million and has seen a wide trading range over the past year.
• Analysts at Maxim Group have increased their target price for SELLAS to $7.00 and assigned a "buy" rating, indicating positive sentiment about the company's future growth.

SELLAS Life Sciences Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:SLS - Get Free Report) was the target of unusually large options trading on Monday. Stock traders bought 10,263 call options on the stock. Thisrepresentsanincreaseofapproximately90% compared to the typical daily volume of 5,411 call options.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Separately, Maxim Group increased their target price on SELLAS Life Sciences Group from $4.00 to $7.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 16th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating, According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of "Buy" and an average price target of $7.00.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Jane Wasman acquired 20,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, May 30th. The shares were acquired at an average price of $1.69 per share, for a total transaction of $33,800.00. Following the transaction, the director owned 30,400 shares in the company, valued at approximately $51,376. This trade represents a 192.31% increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 1.40% of the company's stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Brooklyn FI LLC acquired a new position in SELLAS Life Sciences Group in the 4th quarter valued at $677,000. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its stake in shares of SELLAS Life Sciences Group by 21.2% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 733,546 shares of the company's stock worth $763,000 after acquiring an additional 128,355 shares during the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp increased its stake in shares of SELLAS Life Sciences Group by 33.6% in the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 134,721 shares of the company's stock worth $140,000 after acquiring an additional 33,878 shares during the last quarter. Virtu Financial LLC increased its stake in shares of SELLAS Life Sciences Group by 30.9% in the 1st quarter. Virtu Financial LLC now owns 53,861 shares of the company's stock worth $58,000 after acquiring an additional 12,706 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Anson Funds Management LP increased its stake in shares of SELLAS Life Sciences Group by 50.2% in the 4th quarter. Anson Funds Management LP now owns 1,192,266 shares of the company's stock worth $1,240,000 after acquiring an additional 398,431 shares during the last quarter. 17.38% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

SELLAS Life Sciences Group Price Performance

NASDAQ SLS traded up $0.15 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $1.91. The stock had a trading volume of 2,156,982 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,772,689. The firm's 50 day moving average is $1.79 and its 200 day moving average is $1.52. SELLAS Life Sciences Group has a twelve month low of $0.7720 and a twelve month high of $2.2691. The stock has a market capitalization of $201.12 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -5.97 and a beta of 2.26.

SELLAS Life Sciences Group (NASDAQ:SLS - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, August 12th. The company reported ($0.07) EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($0.08) by $0.01. As a group, equities research analysts expect that SELLAS Life Sciences Group will post -0.57 earnings per share for the current year.

About SELLAS Life Sciences Group

SELLAS Life Sciences Group, Inc, a late-stage clinical biopharmaceutical company, focuses on the development of novel cancer immunotherapies for various cancer indications in the United States. The company's lead product candidate is galinpepimut-S (GPS), a cancer immunotherapeutic agent that targets Wilms tumor 1, which is in Phase 3 clinical trials for the treatment of acute myeloid leukemia; and in Phase 1/2 clinical trials for the treatment for ovarian cancer.