Siga Technologies Sees Unusually Large Options Volume (NASDAQ:SIGA)

Siga Technologies Inc. (NASDAQ:SIGA) saw some unusual options trading on Wednesday. Traders purchased 1,200 call options on the stock. This represents an increase of approximately 1,438% compared to the typical daily volume of 78 call options.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Hotchkis & Wiley Capital Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Siga Technologies by 52.9% in the first quarter. Hotchkis & Wiley Capital Management LLC now owns 3,158,320 shares of the company’s stock valued at $17,308,000 after acquiring an additional 1,093,080 shares in the last quarter. CSM Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Siga Technologies in the 2nd quarter valued at about $2,335,000. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership grew its stake in Siga Technologies by 44.2% during the third quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 834,683 shares of the company’s stock worth $7,637,000 after buying an additional 255,902 shares during the period. Bank of America Corp DE increased its holdings in Siga Technologies by 143.2% in the 2nd quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 405,730 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,645,000 after purchasing an additional 238,869 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Millennium Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Siga Technologies by 353.8% in the third quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 256,337 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,345,000 after buying an additional 199,852 shares in the last quarter. 55.40% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have commented on SIGA. Weiss Ratings restated a “hold (c-)” rating on shares of Siga Technologies in a research report on Thursday, November 20th. Wall Street Zen downgraded Siga Technologies from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, November 15th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Hold rating, According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold”.

Siga Technologies Stock Up 1.5%

Shares of Siga Technologies stock opened at $6.04 on Thursday. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $7.86 and its two-hundred day moving average is $7.42. Siga Technologies has a 52 week low of $4.95 and a 52 week high of $9.62. The firm has a market capitalization of $432.53 million, a P/E ratio of 5.35 and a beta of 0.93.

Siga Technologies (NASDAQ:SIGA) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, November 6th. The company reported ($0.09) earnings per share for the quarter. Siga Technologies had a net margin of 45.73% and a return on equity of 40.52%. The firm had revenue of $2.62 million during the quarter. As a group, research analysts expect that Siga Technologies will post 1.04 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Siga Technologies Company Profile

SIGA Technologies, Inc, a commercial-stage pharmaceutical company, focuses on the health security related markets in the United States. Its lead product is TPOXX, an oral formulation antiviral drug for the treatment of human smallpox disease caused by variola virus. The company was incorporated in 1995 and is headquartered in New York, New York.