Stratasys Sees Unusually Large Options Volume (NASDAQ:SSYS)

Stratasys Ltd. (NASDAQ:SSYS) was the target of unusually large options trading on Friday. Stock traders acquired 3,227 call options on the company. This is an increase of 155% compared to the typical daily volume of 1,267 call options.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

SSYS has been the subject of a number of research reports. StockNews.com downgraded Stratasys from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 26th. Cantor Fitzgerald raised their target price on Stratasys from $12.00 to $15.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 4th. Finally, Needham & Company LLC increased their price objective on shares of Stratasys from $12.00 to $13.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 6th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $12.20.

Stratasys Price Performance

Shares of Stratasys stock traded down $0.24 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $10.05. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 125,768 shares, compared to its average volume of 577,963. Stratasys has a 12 month low of $6.05 and a 12 month high of $12.88. The company has a market capitalization of $720.67 million, a PE ratio of -7.64 and a beta of 1.28. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $10.56 and a 200 day moving average of $9.19.

Stratasys (NASDAQ:SSYS) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, March 5th. The technology company reported $0.12 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.11 by $0.01. Stratasys had a negative net margin of 16.13% and a negative return on equity of 3.75%. The firm had revenue of $150.40 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $151.01 million. During the same period last year, the company posted $0.02 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was down 3.8% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts expect that Stratasys will post -0.4 EPS for the current year.

Institutional Trading of Stratasys

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Invenomic Capital Management LP acquired a new stake in Stratasys in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $10,916,000. Penn Capital Management Company LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Stratasys in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $5,376,000. RPG Investment Advisory LLC grew its position in Stratasys by 64.6% in the fourth quarter. RPG Investment Advisory LLC now owns 1,086,337 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $9,658,000 after purchasing an additional 426,341 shares in the last quarter. Migdal Insurance & Financial Holdings Ltd. increased its stake in Stratasys by 53.1% in the 4th quarter. Migdal Insurance & Financial Holdings Ltd. now owns 1,153,580 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $10,255,000 after buying an additional 400,000 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Formula Growth Ltd. lifted its position in Stratasys by 58.3% during the 4th quarter. Formula Growth Ltd. now owns 760,000 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $6,756,000 after buying an additional 280,000 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 75.77% of the company’s stock.

About Stratasys

Stratasys Ltd. provides connected polymer-based 3D printing solutions. It offers range of 3D printing systems, which includes polyjet printer, Fused Deposition Modeling (FDM) printers, stereolithography printing systems, origin P3 printers, and selective absorption fusion printer for additive manufacturing, and tooling and rapid prototyping for various vertical markets, such as automotive, aerospace, consumer products and healthcare.