Traders Buy Large Volume of Silence Therapeutics Call Options (NASDAQ:SLN)

Silence Therapeutics PLC Sponsored ADR (NASDAQ:SLN) was the recipient of some unusual options trading activity on Monday. Traders purchased 12,157 call options on the company. This is an increase of 1,019% compared to the average daily volume of 1,086 call options.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts have commented on SLN shares. Cantor Fitzgerald started coverage on shares of Silence Therapeutics in a research report on Wednesday, June 24th. They issued an “overweight” rating for the company. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of Silence Therapeutics in a research report on Thursday. Finally, Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on Silence Therapeutics from $25.00 to $32.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 11th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, four have assigned a Buy rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Silence Therapeutics presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $53.50.

Institutional Trading of Silence Therapeutics

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in SLN. ADAR1 Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in Silence Therapeutics by 628.2% during the first quarter. ADAR1 Capital Management LLC now owns 172,157 shares of the company’s stock worth $907,000 after buying an additional 148,514 shares in the last quarter. 5AM Venture Management LLC acquired a new position in Silence Therapeutics in the second quarter worth approximately $5,228,676. Squarepoint Ops LLC increased its holdings in shares of Silence Therapeutics by 29.6% in the second quarter. Squarepoint Ops LLC now owns 115,918 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,273,000 after buying an additional 26,449 shares in the last quarter. Bank of America Corp DE increased its holdings in shares of Silence Therapeutics by 903.8% in the first quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 29,773 shares of the company’s stock valued at $157,000 after buying an additional 26,807 shares in the last quarter. Finally, AXQ Capital LP bought a new position in shares of Silence Therapeutics in the second quarter valued at $138,000. 98.73% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Silence Therapeutics Stock Up 125.4%

Silence Therapeutics stock traded up $10.88 during midday trading on Monday, hitting $19.57. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 47,598,503 shares, compared to its average volume of 837,888. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $12.36 and its 200-day moving average price is $9.62. Silence Therapeutics has a 12 month low of $4.19 and a 12 month high of $19.61. The company has a market capitalization of $1.18 billion, a PE ratio of -15.29 and a beta of 1.45.

Silence Therapeutics (NASDAQ:SLN) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Monday, August 10th. The company reported ($0.26) earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.14) by ($0.12). Silence Therapeutics had a negative net margin of 8,943.86% and a negative return on equity of 106.94%. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Silence Therapeutics will post -0.82 EPS for the current year.

Silence Therapeutics Company Profile

Silence Therapeutics plc is a clinical-stage biotechnology company focused on developing medicines that use RNA interference (RNAi) to selectively reduce the production of disease-causing proteins. The company’s approach is designed to act at the genetic level by targeting specific messenger RNA molecules before they are translated into proteins.

Silence’s research is supported by its proprietary mRNAi GOLD platform, which is intended to enable the development and delivery of small interfering RNA (siRNA) medicines.