Investors Purchase Large Volume of Call Options on Teva Pharmaceutical Industries (NYSE:TEVA)

Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Limited (NYSE:TEVA) was the target of some unusual options trading on Tuesday. Stock traders purchased 33,848 call options on the company. This represents an increase of 52% compared to the average daily volume of 22,258 call options.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts recently weighed in on TEVA shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised shares of Teva Pharmaceutical Industries from an “underweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $14.00 target price for the company in a research note on Friday, March 8th. Jefferies Financial Group upgraded Teva Pharmaceutical Industries from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their price target for the company from $10.00 to $14.00 in a report on Tuesday, January 23rd. Barclays upped their price objective on Teva Pharmaceutical Industries from $15.00 to $17.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, February 5th. Piper Sandler raised shares of Teva Pharmaceutical Industries from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and raised their target price for the company from $12.00 to $19.00 in a report on Monday, February 12th. Finally, StockNews.com raised shares of Teva Pharmaceutical Industries from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 1st. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Teva Pharmaceutical Industries has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $13.78.

Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Price Performance

NYSE:TEVA remained flat at $14.10 during mid-day trading on Tuesday. 5,447,207 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 10,489,646. The company has a quick ratio of 0.69, a current ratio of 1.02 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.23. Teva Pharmaceutical Industries has a one year low of $7.09 and a one year high of $14.47. The stock has a market cap of $15.81 billion, a PE ratio of -29.98, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.65 and a beta of 1.05. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $13.53 and a 200 day moving average price of $11.46.

Teva Pharmaceutical Industries (NYSE:TEVA) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, January 31st. The company reported $0.98 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.73 by $0.25. Teva Pharmaceutical Industries had a positive return on equity of 34.90% and a negative net margin of 3.33%. The business had revenue of $4.46 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.97 billion. As a group, research analysts predict that Teva Pharmaceutical Industries will post 2.28 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity

In related news, CEO Richard D. Francis sold 74,530 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $13.15, for a total transaction of $980,069.50. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 87,125 shares in the company, valued at $1,145,693.75. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. In other Teva Pharmaceutical Industries news, CAO Amir Weiss sold 31,766 shares of Teva Pharmaceutical Industries stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $12.37, for a total transaction of $392,945.42. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 10,676 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $132,062.12. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO Richard D. Francis sold 74,530 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $13.15, for a total transaction of $980,069.50. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 87,125 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,145,693.75. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 390,738 shares of company stock valued at $5,132,766 in the last quarter. 0.55% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Teva Pharmaceutical Industries

Several hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in TEVA. Blue Trust Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Teva Pharmaceutical Industries by 92.3% in the 4th quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 4,541 shares of the company’s stock valued at $46,000 after buying an additional 2,180 shares in the last quarter. Signaturefd LLC raised its position in Teva Pharmaceutical Industries by 90.8% in the 3rd quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 5,032 shares of the company’s stock valued at $51,000 after purchasing an additional 2,394 shares in the last quarter. Psagot Value Holdings Ltd. Israel purchased a new position in shares of Teva Pharmaceutical Industries in the 4th quarter valued at about $57,000. Newbridge Financial Services Group Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Teva Pharmaceutical Industries during the fourth quarter worth about $82,000. Finally, Desjardins Global Asset Management Inc. grew its holdings in Teva Pharmaceutical Industries by 15.2% during the 4th quarter. Desjardins Global Asset Management Inc. now owns 8,123 shares of the company’s stock worth $85,000 after acquiring an additional 1,070 shares in the last quarter. 54.05% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

About Teva Pharmaceutical Industries

Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Limited develops, manufactures, markets, and distributes generic medicines, specialty medicines, and biopharmaceutical products in North America, Europe, Israel, and internationally. It offers generic medicines in various dosage forms, such as tablets, capsules, injectables, inhalants, liquids, transdermal patches, ointments, and creams; sterile products, hormones, high-potency drugs, and cytotoxic substances in parenteral and solid dosage forms; and generic products with medical devices and combination products.