Investors Purchase High Volume of Nuvation Bio Call Options (NYSE:NUVB)

Nuvation Bio Inc. (NYSE:NUVB) was the target of unusually large options trading on Monday. Traders acquired 2,985 call options on the stock. This represents an increase of 227% compared to the average daily volume of 913 call options.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Nuvation Bio news, insider Stacy Markel sold 125,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, June 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $6.03, for a total transaction of $753,750.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 32,591 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $196,523.73. This trade represents a 79.32% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, insider Kerry Wentworth sold 63,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, June 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $6.02, for a total transaction of $379,260.00. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 53,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $319,060. This trade represents a 54.31% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 235,668 shares of company stock valued at $1,419,495. 30.11% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Nuvation Bio

Hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Capricorn Fund Managers Ltd bought a new stake in Nuvation Bio in the fourth quarter worth about $14,236,000. JPMorgan Chase & Co. grew its position in Nuvation Bio by 472.8% in the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 675,600 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,500,000 after acquiring an additional 557,656 shares during the last quarter. Ishara Investments LP purchased a new stake in Nuvation Bio in the fourth quarter worth $3,584,000. ACT Capital Management LLC purchased a new stake in Nuvation Bio in the fourth quarter worth $5,470,000. Finally, AMI Asset Management Corp bought a new stake in shares of Nuvation Bio during the fourth quarter worth $1,133,000. 61.67% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

NUVB has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of Nuvation Bio in a research note on Tuesday, April 21st. Zacks Research upgraded shares of Nuvation Bio from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, July 6th. HC Wainwright reissued a “buy” rating and set a $17.00 price objective on shares of Nuvation Bio in a report on Tuesday, May 5th. Wedbush restated an “outperform” rating and set a $11.00 price objective on shares of Nuvation Bio in a research report on Tuesday, May 5th. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada reduced their target price on Nuvation Bio from $20.00 to $19.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, July 7th. Eight research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, two have given a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $12.38.

Nuvation Bio Price Performance

Shares of NYSE NUVB traded up $0.61 during midday trading on Monday, reaching $6.41. 4,532,626 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 5,465,822. The company’s 50 day moving average is $5.21 and its 200 day moving average is $5.36. Nuvation Bio has a one year low of $2.18 and a one year high of $9.75. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15, a current ratio of 7.44 and a quick ratio of 7.24. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.23 billion, a PE ratio of -14.67 and a beta of 1.52.

Nuvation Bio (NYSE:NUVB) last released its quarterly earnings results on Monday, May 4th. The company reported $0.01 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.03) by $0.04. The company had revenue of $83.23 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $66.22 million. Nuvation Bio had a negative net margin of 102.06% and a negative return on equity of 44.10%. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Nuvation Bio will post -0.39 earnings per share for the current year.

About Nuvation Bio

Nuvation Bio is a clinical-stage biotechnology company dedicated to discovering and developing small-molecule therapies for patients with cancer. The company employs an integrated research and development platform that spans target identification, preclinical evaluation, process chemistry, and early-stage clinical trials. By centralizing these capabilities, Nuvation Bio aims to accelerate the translation of promising drug candidates from laboratory research to first-in-human studies.

The company’s pipeline comprises multiple oncology programs, with small-molecule kinase inhibitors and targeted agents in Phase 1 development for both hematologic malignancies and solid tumors.