Traders Purchase Large Volume of Ginkgo Bioworks Call Options (NYSE:DNA)

Ginkgo Bioworks Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:DNA) was the target of unusually large options trading on Thursday. Stock traders purchased 8,763 call options on the company. This is an increase of approximately 117% compared to the typical daily volume of 4,038 call options.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts have recently commented on the company. TD Cowen reduced their price target on Ginkgo Bioworks from $7.00 to $3.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, March 1st. Morgan Stanley reduced their target price on Ginkgo Bioworks from $2.00 to $1.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, May 15th. William Blair downgraded Ginkgo Bioworks from a “market perform” rating to an “underperform” rating in a research note on Friday, May 10th. Finally, BTIG Research dropped their price target on Ginkgo Bioworks from $0.50 to $0.20 and set a “sell” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating and one has given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $1.56.

Ginkgo Bioworks Price Performance

Shares of Ginkgo Bioworks stock opened at $0.31 on Friday. Ginkgo Bioworks has a 12 month low of $0.26 and a 12 month high of $2.55. The stock has a market capitalization of $678.86 million, a P/E ratio of -0.70 and a beta of 1.24. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $0.66 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $1.09.

Ginkgo Bioworks (NYSE:DNA) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 9th. The company reported ($0.08) EPS for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of ($0.08). The firm had revenue of $37.94 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $45.50 million. Ginkgo Bioworks had a negative return on equity of 56.09% and a negative net margin of 409.11%. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned ($0.08) earnings per share. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Ginkgo Bioworks will post -0.3 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Harry Sloan acquired 297,619 shares of Ginkgo Bioworks stock in a transaction on Tuesday, May 14th. The shares were acquired at an average price of $0.91 per share, with a total value of $270,833.29. Following the purchase, the director now directly owns 718,540 shares in the company, valued at approximately $653,871.40. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. In related news, Director Marijn E. Dekkers sold 265,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $0.83, for a total transaction of $219,950.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 5,515,364 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,577,752.12. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Director Harry Sloan acquired 297,619 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, May 14th. The shares were acquired at an average price of $0.91 per share, with a total value of $270,833.29. Following the acquisition, the director now owns 718,540 shares in the company, valued at $653,871.40. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 377,415 shares of company stock valued at $321,226 in the last quarter. 15.05% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Ginkgo Bioworks

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Spire Wealth Management purchased a new position in shares of Ginkgo Bioworks during the fourth quarter worth $25,000. Paloma Partners Management Co purchased a new position in Ginkgo Bioworks in the first quarter valued at $28,000. First Trust Direct Indexing L.P. acquired a new stake in Ginkgo Bioworks in the first quarter valued at $35,000. Prime Capital Investment Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Ginkgo Bioworks in the fourth quarter valued at $37,000. Finally, Russell Investments Group Ltd. raised its stake in Ginkgo Bioworks by 9,440.6% in the first quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. now owns 31,961 shares of the company’s stock valued at $37,000 after buying an additional 31,626 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 78.63% of the company’s stock.

About Ginkgo Bioworks

Ginkgo Bioworks Holdings, Inc, together with its subsidiaries, develops platform for cell programming in the United States. Its platform is used to program cells to enable biological production of products, such as novel therapeutics, food ingredients, and chemicals derived from petroleum. It serves pharma and biotech, agriculture, industrial and environment, food and nutrition, consumer and technology, and government and defense industries.