Stock Traders Purchase Large Volume of Call Options on POET Technologies (NASDAQ:POET)

Key Points

• POET Technologies saw a significant increase in options trading, with 227,542 call options purchased, marking an 874% increase from the average volume.
• Bank of America Corp DE boosted its stake in POET Technologies by over 4,125%, while Paragon Capital Management Ltd increased its position by 438.4% in the first quarter.
• The company reported a quarterly loss of ($0.21) earnings per share, missing analysts' expectations, with a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and average target price of $6.25.

POET Technologies Inc. (NASDAQ:POET - Get Free Report) saw unusually large options trading on Friday. Stock investors purchased 227,542 call options on the company. This represents an increase of approximately 874% compared to the average volume of 23,370 call options.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On POET Technologies

Several large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Bank of America Corp DE lifted its holdings in shares of POET Technologies by 4,125.1% in the fourth quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 46,899 shares of the company's stock worth $279,000 after buying an additional 45,789 shares in the last quarter. Paragon Capital Management Ltd lifted its stake in POET Technologies by 438.4% in the 1st quarter. Paragon Capital Management Ltd now owns 579,300 shares of the company's stock worth $2,190,000 after purchasing an additional 471,700 shares in the last quarter. Sentry LLC purchased a new stake in POET Technologies in the 1st quarter worth $38,000. Waddell & Associates LLC lifted its stake in POET Technologies by 55.2% in the 1st quarter. Waddell & Associates LLC now owns 41,346 shares of the company's stock worth $156,000 after purchasing an additional 14,707 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Baader Bank Aktiengesellschaft purchased a new stake in POET Technologies in the 1st quarter worth $47,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 1.99% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts have recently commented on POET shares. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a "sell (d-)" rating on shares of POET Technologies in a research note on Wednesday. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of POET Technologies from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Friday, October 3rd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, two have issued a Buy rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $6.25.

POET Technologies Stock Down 4.3%

NASDAQ:POET opened at $8.82 on Friday. The company's 50 day moving average price is $5.63 and its 200-day moving average price is $4.99. POET Technologies has a 52 week low of $3.09 and a 52 week high of $9.41. The stock has a market cap of $800.15 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -10.89 and a beta of 0.37.

POET Technologies (NASDAQ:POET - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Monday, August 11th. The company reported ($0.21) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of ($0.11) by ($0.10). The firm had revenue of $0.27 million during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $0.39 million. POET Technologies had a negative return on equity of 141.43% and a negative net margin of 11,497.01%. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that POET Technologies will post -0.45 earnings per share for the current year.

POET Technologies Company Profile

POET Technologies Inc designs, develops, manufactures, and sells discrete and integrated opto-electronic solutions in Canada, the United States, Singapore, and China. It offers integration solutions based on the POET Optical Interposer, a novel platform that allows the seamless integration of electronic and photonic devices into a single multi-chip module using advanced wafer-level semiconductor manufacturing techniques.

This instant news alert was generated by narrative science technology and financial data from MarketBeat in order to provide readers with the fastest and most accurate reporting. This story was reviewed by MarketBeat's editorial team prior to publication. Please send any questions or comments about this story to contact@marketbeat.com.