Stratasys Target of Unusually High Options Trading (NASDAQ:SSYS)

Stratasys Ltd. (NASDAQ:SSYS) was the recipient of unusually large options trading on Friday. Stock traders bought 3,227 call options on the stock. This is an increase of 155% compared to the average volume of 1,267 call options.

Institutional Trading of Stratasys

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. lifted its position in Stratasys by 510.6% in the 3rd quarter. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. now owns 67,803 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $563,000 after purchasing an additional 56,699 shares during the last quarter. Quantbot Technologies LP acquired a new stake in Stratasys in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $90,000. BNP Paribas Financial Markets raised its stake in Stratasys by 785.6% during the 3rd quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 129,728 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $1,078,000 after acquiring an additional 115,080 shares in the last quarter. Verition Fund Management LLC acquired a new position in Stratasys during the 3rd quarter worth $322,000. Finally, Clearline Capital LP grew its stake in shares of Stratasys by 23.3% in the third quarter. Clearline Capital LP now owns 1,367,226 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $11,362,000 after purchasing an additional 258,603 shares in the last quarter. 75.77% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Stratasys Stock Performance

Shares of SSYS stock opened at $10.11 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $725.05 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -7.66 and a beta of 1.28. Stratasys has a one year low of $6.05 and a one year high of $12.88. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $10.58 and its 200-day simple moving average is $9.22.

Stratasys (NASDAQ:SSYS) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, March 5th. The technology company reported $0.12 earnings per share for the quarter, beating 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 during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $151.01 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $0.02 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 3.8% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts forecast that Stratasys will post -0.4 EPS for the current year.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

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

Stratasys Company Profile

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.