SELLAS Life Sciences Group Target of Unusually Large Options Trading (NASDAQ:SLS)

Key Points

• Investors purchased 42,324 call options on SELLAS (NASDAQ:SLS) on Monday, about 54% above the average call volume, indicating unusually large bullish options activity.
• Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a sell (d-) on SLS, while analysts' consensus is Hold with a $7.00 average price target.
• SLS traded up to $4.58 on Monday (volume 7.32M), has a market cap of $651.7M and a 12‑month range of $0.95–$5.18, and several institutions (Vanguard, Anson, Marshall Wace, State Street) recently increased their stakes.

SELLAS Life Sciences Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:SLS - Get Free Report) was the recipient of unusually large options trading on Monday. Investors purchased 42,324 call options on the stock. This represents an increase of 54% compared to the average volume of 27,474 call options.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Separately, Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a "sell (d-)" rating on shares of SELLAS Life Sciences Group in a research note on Thursday, January 22nd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $7.00.

SELLAS Life Sciences Group Stock Performance

SLS traded up $0.43 during midday trading on Monday, hitting $4.58. The company had a trading volume of 7,322,775 shares, compared to its average volume of 8,705,112. The firm's 50-day simple moving average is $3.66 and its 200-day simple moving average is $2.42. SELLAS Life Sciences Group has a twelve month low of $0.95 and a twelve month high of $5.18. The company has a market capitalization of $651.66 million, a PE ratio of -16.38 and a beta of 2.27.

Institutional Trading of SELLAS Life Sciences Group

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of SLS. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in SELLAS Life Sciences Group by 2.8% in the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 6,839,905 shares of the company's stock valued at $11,012,000 after purchasing an additional 185,106 shares during the period. Anson Funds Management LP boosted its stake in SELLAS Life Sciences Group by 2,093.8% during the third quarter. Anson Funds Management LP now owns 6,032,938 shares of the company's stock worth $9,713,000 after acquiring an additional 5,757,938 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in SELLAS Life Sciences Group by 35.9% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 3,077,337 shares of the company's stock worth $11,604,000 after purchasing an additional 812,953 shares during the period. Marshall Wace LLP increased its stake in SELLAS Life Sciences Group by 23,550.0% in the second quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 2,715,489 shares of the company's stock valued at $5,947,000 after purchasing an additional 2,704,007 shares in the last quarter. Finally, State Street Corp raised its stake in SELLAS Life Sciences Group by 60.8% during the 4th quarter. State Street Corp now owns 2,188,171 shares of the company's stock worth $8,249,000 after buying an additional 827,257 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 17.38% of the company's stock.

About SELLAS Life Sciences Group

SELLAS Life Sciences Group, Inc is a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company focused on the development of active cellular immunotherapies for cancer. Headquartered in Waltham, Massachusetts, SELLAS specializes in targeting the Wilms' tumor 1 (WT1) antigen, a protein commonly overexpressed in a range of hematologic and solid tumors. Since its founding, the company has built a pipeline around the use of peptide-based vaccines designed to train the patient's own immune system to recognize and attack WT1-positive cancer cells.

The company's lead product candidate, galinpepimut-S (GPS), is an investigational multi-peptide vaccine directed against WT1.

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