Investors Purchase High Volume of Put Options on Regulus Therapeutics (NASDAQ:RGLS)

Regulus Therapeutics Inc. (NASDAQ:RGLS) was the recipient of some unusual options trading activity on Wednesday. Stock traders purchased 34,140 put options on the stock. This represents an increase of 8,146% compared to the average daily volume of 414 put options.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

RGLS has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Wells Fargo & Company reissued an “equal weight” rating and issued a $9.00 target price on shares of Regulus Therapeutics in a report on Thursday. Canaccord Genuity Group reiterated a “hold” rating and issued a $11.00 price objective (down from $28.00) on shares of Regulus Therapeutics in a report on Wednesday. Jones Trading reissued a “hold” rating and issued a $7.00 target price (down previously from $8.00) on shares of Regulus Therapeutics in a research report on Wednesday. Leerink Partners reiterated a “market perform” rating and issued a $7.00 price target on shares of Regulus Therapeutics in a research note on Wednesday. Finally, HC Wainwright reissued a “buy” rating and set a $10.00 price objective on shares of Regulus Therapeutics in a report on Friday, March 14th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $8.50.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Regulus Therapeutics

Institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Barclays PLC lifted its stake in Regulus Therapeutics by 13.9% in the 4th quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 96,247 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $152,000 after purchasing an additional 11,770 shares in the last quarter. Tyche Wealth Partners LLC increased its holdings in shares of Regulus Therapeutics by 14.6% in the first quarter. Tyche Wealth Partners LLC now owns 121,589 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $213,000 after purchasing an additional 15,500 shares during the last quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC lifted its position in Regulus Therapeutics by 20.5% during the fourth quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 117,100 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $185,000 after buying an additional 19,900 shares in the last quarter. Jane Street Group LLC purchased a new stake in Regulus Therapeutics in the 3rd quarter valued at $46,000. Finally, State Street Corp grew its holdings in Regulus Therapeutics by 3.5% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 1,000,998 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $1,572,000 after buying an additional 33,496 shares in the last quarter. 92.38% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Regulus Therapeutics Price Performance

Regulus Therapeutics stock opened at $7.85 on Friday. Regulus Therapeutics has a 1-year low of $0.83 and a 1-year high of $8.20. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $1.97 and a 200-day moving average price of $1.62. The stock has a market capitalization of $520.01 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -7.34 and a beta of 1.03.

Regulus Therapeutics (NASDAQ:RGLS) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, March 20th. The biopharmaceutical company reported ($0.20) earnings per share for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of ($0.20). During the same quarter last year, the company posted ($0.40) earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Regulus Therapeutics will post -0.88 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

About Regulus Therapeutics

Regulus Therapeutics Inc, a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company, focuses on discovery and development of drugs that targets microRNAs to treat a range of diseases in the United States. Its product candidates include RGLS8429, an anti-miR next generation oligonucleotide targeting miR-17, which is in Phase 1b clinical trial for the treatment of autosomal dominant polycystic kidney disease.