Arbutus Biopharma Sees Unusually Large Options Volume (NASDAQ:ABUS)

Arbutus Biopharma Co. (NASDAQ:ABUS) was the recipient of some unusual options trading on Wednesday. Traders bought 14,379 call options on the stock. This is an increase of approximately 1,406% compared to the average daily volume of 955 call options.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

ABUS has been the subject of several analyst reports. JMP Securities upped their target price on Arbutus Biopharma from $4.00 to $5.00 and gave the company a “market outperform” rating in a report on Friday, August 2nd. Jefferies Financial Group raised their price objective on shares of Arbutus Biopharma from $5.00 to $7.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, September 5th. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded shares of Arbutus Biopharma from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, August 10th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Arbutus Biopharma has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $5.25.

Institutional Trading of Arbutus Biopharma

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in ABUS. Rubric Capital Management LP purchased a new stake in shares of Arbutus Biopharma in the 2nd quarter valued at $5,195,000. Susquehanna Fundamental Investments LLC increased its stake in Arbutus Biopharma by 102.2% during the second quarter. Susquehanna Fundamental Investments LLC now owns 208,152 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $643,000 after purchasing an additional 105,228 shares during the period. Bank of New York Mellon Corp lifted its position in shares of Arbutus Biopharma by 21.1% during the second quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 493,729 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $1,526,000 after purchasing an additional 86,104 shares in the last quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets boosted its stake in shares of Arbutus Biopharma by 19.7% in the first quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 349,435 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $902,000 after purchasing an additional 57,390 shares during the period. Finally, SG Americas Securities LLC acquired a new position in shares of Arbutus Biopharma in the third quarter valued at approximately $204,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 43.79% of the company’s stock.

Arbutus Biopharma Trading Up 2.2 %

NASDAQ ABUS opened at $4.20 on Thursday. Arbutus Biopharma has a twelve month low of $1.69 and a twelve month high of $4.72. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $3.97 and a 200-day simple moving average of $3.46.

Arbutus Biopharma (NASDAQ:ABUS) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 1st. The biopharmaceutical company reported ($0.11) earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.10) by ($0.01). Arbutus Biopharma had a negative net margin of 766.20% and a negative return on equity of 66.68%. The company had revenue of $1.73 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.54 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned ($0.10) earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Arbutus Biopharma will post -0.38 earnings per share for the current year.

About Arbutus Biopharma

Arbutus Biopharma Corporation, a biopharmaceutical company, develops novel therapeutics for chronic Hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection in the United States. Its HBV product pipeline consists of imdusiran (AB-729), a proprietary subcutaneously-delivered RNAi therapeutic product candidate that suppresses all HBV antigens, including HBsAg expression.