Traders Buy High Volume of PepGen Call Options (NASDAQ:PEPG)

PepGen, Inc. (NASDAQ:PEPG) saw some unusual options trading on Friday. Investors purchased 8,010 call options on the company. This represents an increase of 649% compared to the average daily volume of 1,069 call options.

Insider Transactions at PepGen

In other news, major shareholder Science Enterprises Plc Oxford bought 200,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, September 30th. The shares were bought at an average price of $3.20 per share, for a total transaction of $640,000.00. Following the purchase, the insider owned 4,955,388 shares in the company, valued at approximately $15,857,241.60. The trade was a 4.21% increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 5.20% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On PepGen

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. RBF Capital LLC purchased a new stake in PepGen during the second quarter valued at approximately $111,000. Adage Capital Partners GP L.L.C. boosted its holdings in shares of PepGen by 68.8% in the 1st quarter. Adage Capital Partners GP L.L.C. now owns 1,350,000 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,897,000 after purchasing an additional 550,000 shares during the period. ADAR1 Capital Management LLC bought a new position in shares of PepGen during the 1st quarter valued at approximately $29,000. Nuveen LLC purchased a new stake in PepGen during the 1st quarter valued at $139,000. Finally, Burkehill Global Management LP bought a new stake in PepGen in the third quarter worth $46,000. 58.01% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have weighed in on PEPG. HC Wainwright increased their price objective on shares of PepGen from $18.00 to $20.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 13th. Wedbush upped their target price on shares of PepGen from $7.00 to $9.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, September 25th. Stifel Nicolaus raised their price target on PepGen from $9.00 to $12.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, September 25th. Wall Street Zen upgraded PepGen from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, November 15th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reiterated a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of PepGen in a research report on Wednesday, October 8th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $11.75.

PepGen Price Performance

NASDAQ PEPG opened at $5.42 on Friday. PepGen has a 1-year low of $0.88 and a 1-year high of $6.72. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $5.15 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $2.99. The stock has a market capitalization of $372.63 million, a PE ratio of -1.92 and a beta of 1.91.

PepGen (NASDAQ:PEPG) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, November 12th. The company reported ($0.52) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of ($0.63) by $0.11. On average, analysts anticipate that PepGen will post -2.73 EPS for the current fiscal year.

PepGen Company Profile

PepGen, Inc (NASDAQ: PEPG) is a clinical-stage biotechnology company headquartered in San Diego, California. The company is developing precision gene editing therapies to address rare genetic diseases by combining advanced prime editing modalities with proprietary delivery technologies. PepGen’s platform is designed to achieve targeted and durable correction of disease-causing mutations in vivo, with the goal of providing long-lasting therapeutic benefit after a single administration.

The company’s lead development programs include PPG-001 for mucopolysaccharidosis type II (Hunter syndrome) and PPG-002 for mucopolysaccharidosis type I (Hurler syndrome).