Stock Traders Buy Large Volume of Call Options on PureCycle Technologies (NASDAQ:PCT)

Key Points

• Surge in call buying: Traders purchased 19,703 call options on PCT on Friday, roughly a 52% increase versus the typical daily volume of 12,958 calls.
• Shares and results: PCT stock rose about 7% to $9.56 intraday; the company beat quarterly EPS and revenue estimates (EPS -$0.21 vs -$0.26; revenue $4.13M vs $3.83M) but remains deeply unprofitable with very large negative margins.
• Mixed analyst view, strong institutional ownership: Analysts' ratings vary but the consensus is a "Moderate Buy" with a $12 target, and institutions now own about 63% of the company with several funds increasing or initiating positions.

PureCycle Technologies, Inc. (NASDAQ:PCT - Get Free Report) saw unusually large options trading activity on Friday. Stock investors bought 19,703 call options on the company. This represents an increase of approximately 52% compared to the typical daily volume of 12,958 call options.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts recently commented on PCT shares. TD Cowen decreased their target price on shares of PureCycle Technologies from $7.00 to $6.00 and set a "hold" rating on the stock in a research report on Friday. Weiss Ratings reiterated a "sell (d-)" rating on shares of PureCycle Technologies in a research report on Thursday, January 22nd. Cantor Fitzgerald decreased their target price on shares of PureCycle Technologies from $16.00 to $14.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, February 27th. Finally, Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of PureCycle Technologies from a "strong sell" rating to a "sell" rating in a research report on Saturday, May 2nd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, one has assigned a Buy rating, one has assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $12.00.

PureCycle Technologies Trading Up 7.0%

Shares of PCT stock traded up $0.62 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $9.56. The stock had a trading volume of 2,381,164 shares, compared to its average volume of 4,385,462. The stock's 50-day moving average price is $6.30 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $8.58. PureCycle Technologies has a 52-week low of $4.93 and a 52-week high of $17.37. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.73 billion, a PE ratio of -6.51 and a beta of 2.31. The company has a current ratio of 2.26, a quick ratio of 2.15 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 7.62.

PureCycle Technologies (NASDAQ:PCT - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, May 6th. The company reported ($0.21) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of ($0.26) by $0.05. The firm had revenue of $4.13 million for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $3.83 million. PureCycle Technologies had a negative net margin of 2,062.36% and a negative return on equity of 305.03%. Equities analysts expect that PureCycle Technologies will post -0.96 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On PureCycle Technologies

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of PCT. Royal Bank of Canada increased its position in shares of PureCycle Technologies by 62.4% during the first quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 1,042,338 shares of the company's stock valued at $7,213,000 after buying an additional 400,520 shares during the period. AQR Capital Management LLC increased its position in shares of PureCycle Technologies by 67.9% during the first quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 20,963 shares of the company's stock valued at $145,000 after buying an additional 8,478 shares during the period. Integrated Wealth Concepts LLC increased its position in shares of PureCycle Technologies by 4.3% during the first quarter. Integrated Wealth Concepts LLC now owns 36,571 shares of the company's stock valued at $253,000 after buying an additional 1,516 shares during the period. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. increased its position in shares of PureCycle Technologies by 4.5% during the first quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 73,249 shares of the company's stock valued at $507,000 after buying an additional 3,161 shares during the period. Finally, Millennium Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of PureCycle Technologies during the first quarter valued at about $3,770,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 63.01% of the company's stock.

PureCycle Technologies Company Profile

PureCycle Technologies, Inc operates as a recycling technology company focused on restoring waste polypropylene to a “virgin-like” state through a proprietary purification process licensed from Procter & Gamble. The company develops, owns and operates recycling facilities that convert used polypropylene feedstock—such as packaging and industrial plastics—into ultra‐pure recycled resin. This resin, known as Qualified Recycled Polymer (QRP), is designed to meet stringent quality specifications for applications in packaging, consumer goods and industrial products.

Headquartered in Orlando, Florida, PureCycle was established with technology development efforts dating back to licensing agreements in the mid-2010s and later spun off as a publicly traded entity in 2021.

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