Gritstone bio Sees Unusually High Options Volume (NASDAQ:GRTS)

Gritstone bio, Inc. (NASDAQ:GRTS) was the target of some unusual options trading activity on Thursday. Stock investors purchased 18,077 put options on the stock. This represents an increase of approximately 1,238% compared to the average daily volume of 1,351 put options.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Gritstone bio

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Redmile Group LLC lifted its position in shares of Gritstone bio by 24.0% in the third quarter. Redmile Group LLC now owns 8,509,126 shares of the company’s stock worth $14,636,000 after purchasing an additional 1,648,900 shares in the last quarter. Point72 Asset Management L.P. acquired a new stake in shares of Gritstone bio in the fourth quarter worth $26,496,000. BlackRock Inc. grew its stake in shares of Gritstone bio by 221.5% in the second quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 6,213,432 shares of the company’s stock worth $12,116,000 after acquiring an additional 4,280,777 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in Gritstone bio by 8.8% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 4,416,292 shares of the company’s stock worth $9,009,000 after purchasing an additional 358,075 shares during the period. Finally, Balyasny Asset Management L.P. lifted its position in Gritstone bio by 15.5% in the first quarter. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. now owns 2,373,030 shares of the company’s stock worth $6,597,000 after purchasing an additional 318,490 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 48.46% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts recently weighed in on GRTS shares. JMP Securities began coverage on shares of Gritstone bio in a research note on Wednesday, February 28th. They set a “mkt outperform” rating and a $4.00 price target for the company. HC Wainwright restated a “buy” rating and set a $7.00 target price on shares of Gritstone bio in a report on Wednesday, March 6th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating, According to MarketBeat.com, Gritstone bio currently has an average rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $6.50.

Gritstone bio Trading Down 8.2 %

GRTS traded down $0.23 during trading on Thursday, hitting $2.57. 2,234,401 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,033,168. The company has a current ratio of 3.20, a quick ratio of 3.20 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.77. Gritstone bio has a 1 year low of $1.14 and a 1 year high of $3.33. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $2.44 and a 200 day moving average price of $2.05. The firm has a market cap of $252.04 million, a P/E ratio of -2.17 and a beta of 0.39.

Gritstone bio (NASDAQ:GRTS) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, March 5th. The company reported ($0.26) earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($0.36) by $0.10. The business had revenue of $10.38 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.80 million. Gritstone bio had a negative net margin of 847.24% and a negative return on equity of 147.22%. As a group, analysts expect that Gritstone bio will post -0.94 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Gritstone bio Company Profile

Gritstone bio, Inc, a clinical-stage biotechnology company, engages in developing vaccine-based immunotherapy candidates against cancer and infectious diseases. Its primary product candidate is GRANITE, an individualized immunotherapy candidate, which is in Phase 2/3 clinical trials for the treatment of microsatellite stable colorectal cancers; and has completed Phase 1/2 clinical trials for treating solid tumors.