Investors Purchase Large Volume of Replimune Group Call Options (NASDAQ:REPL)

Replimune Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:REPL) was the target of unusually large options trading activity on Wednesday. Traders purchased 5,950 call options on the stock. This represents an increase of approximately 40% compared to the average volume of 4,251 call options.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have weighed in on REPL. HC Wainwright restated a “sell” rating on shares of Replimune Group in a research report on Monday, April 13th. Leerink Partners restated a “market perform” rating and issued a $2.00 target price (down from $11.00) on shares of Replimune Group in a research report on Monday, April 13th. Jefferies Financial Group restated a “hold” rating and issued a $2.00 target price (down from $13.00) on shares of Replimune Group in a research report on Monday, April 13th. Wedbush restated a “neutral” rating and issued a $2.00 target price (down from $19.00) on shares of Replimune Group in a research report on Monday, April 13th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. restated an “underweight” rating on shares of Replimune Group in a research report on Monday, April 13th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Hold rating and four have given a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Reduce” and an average price target of $4.75.

Insider Activity

In other Replimune Group news, insider Christopher Sarchi sold 6,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, April 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $8.01, for a total value of $52,065.00. Following the sale, the insider owned 151,588 shares in the company, valued at $1,214,219.88. This trade represents a 4.11% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Corporate insiders own 5.20% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Replimune Group

A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. SG Americas Securities LLC raised its stake in Replimune Group by 110.8% during the first quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 151,674 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,160,000 after buying an additional 79,719 shares during the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. raised its stake in Replimune Group by 297.3% during the fourth quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 613,015 shares of the company’s stock worth $5,959,000 after buying an additional 458,714 shares during the last quarter. XTX Topco Ltd bought a new position in Replimune Group during the fourth quarter worth $322,000. Virtus Investment Advisers LLC raised its stake in Replimune Group by 127.0% during the fourth quarter. Virtus Investment Advisers LLC now owns 26,133 shares of the company’s stock worth $254,000 after buying an additional 14,622 shares during the last quarter. Finally, SummitTX Capital L.P. bought a new position in Replimune Group during the fourth quarter worth $1,058,000. Institutional investors own 92.53% of the company’s stock.

Replimune Group Trading Up 19.6%

Shares of REPL stock traded up $0.37 during trading hours on Wednesday, hitting $2.23. 11,322,719 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 3,413,255. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $6.77 and its 200 day simple moving average is $7.84. The stock has a market cap of $183.72 million, a PE ratio of -0.65 and a beta of 0.74. Replimune Group has a 12 month low of $1.50 and a 12 month high of $13.24. The company has a quick ratio of 5.60, a current ratio of 5.60 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33.

Replimune Group (NASDAQ:REPL) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 3rd. The company reported ($0.77) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($0.85) by $0.08. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Replimune Group will post -3.39 EPS for the current year.

About Replimune Group

Replimune Group, Inc is a clinical‐stage biotechnology company focused on developing next‐generation oncolytic immunotherapies for the treatment of solid tumors. The company’s proprietary “RP” platform leverages genetically engineered herpes simplex virus type 1 (HSV-1) vectors armed with immunomodulatory payloads to selectively infect, replicate within and destroy cancer cells, while also stimulating systemic antitumor immune responses.

Replimune’s lead candidate, RP1, incorporates GM-CSF and a fusogenic protein to enhance both direct oncolysis and immune activation.