PepGen Sees Unusually High Options Volume (NASDAQ:PEPG)

PepGen, Inc. (NASDAQ:PEPG) was the recipient of unusually large options trading on Friday. Stock investors acquired 8,010 call options on the stock. This is an increase of 649% compared to the average volume of 1,069 call options.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts recently weighed in on PEPG shares. Wedbush lifted their price objective on shares of PepGen from $7.00 to $9.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, September 25th. Guggenheim reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $6.00 price target on shares of PepGen in a report on Wednesday, September 24th. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of PepGen in a research report on Wednesday, October 8th. Wall Street Zen upgraded PepGen from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, November 15th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price target on PepGen from $9.00 to $12.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, September 25th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $11.75.

Insider Transactions at PepGen

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

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several large investors have recently bought and sold shares of PEPG. Heights Capital Management Inc. bought a new position in shares of PepGen in the third quarter valued at $46,000. Laurion Capital Management LP boosted its stake in shares of PepGen by 133.4% during the 3rd quarter. Laurion Capital Management LP now owns 1,892,156 shares of the company’s stock worth $8,742,000 after acquiring an additional 1,081,395 shares in the last quarter. Woodline Partners LP boosted its stake in shares of PepGen by 89.6% during the 3rd quarter. Woodline Partners LP now owns 1,311,021 shares of the company’s stock worth $6,057,000 after acquiring an additional 619,491 shares in the last quarter. TCG Crossover Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of PepGen in the 3rd quarter worth $5,544,000. Finally, Vivo Capital LLC acquired a new stake in shares of PepGen during the third quarter worth $10,742,000. Institutional investors own 58.01% of the company’s stock.

PepGen Trading Up 4.7%

NASDAQ:PEPG traded up $0.25 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $5.45. 38,674 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,785,678. PepGen has a one year low of $0.88 and a one year high of $6.72. The company has a market capitalization of $374.34 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -1.93 and a beta of 1.91. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $5.13 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $2.96.

PepGen (NASDAQ:PEPG) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, November 12th. The company reported ($0.52) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.63) by $0.11. Sell-side analysts forecast that PepGen will post -2.73 EPS for the current fiscal year.

About PepGen

PepGen Inc, a clinical-stage biotechnology company, focuses on the development of oligonucleotide therapeutics for use in the treatment of severe neuromuscular and neurologic diseases. Its lead product candidate is PGN-EDO51, an EDO peptide that is in Phase 2 clinical trial to treat Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD) patients.