Principal Financial Group Inc. Raises Stock Position in Pacira BioSciences, Inc. $PCRX

Principal Financial Group Inc. boosted its holdings in Pacira BioSciences, Inc. (NASDAQ:PCRX) by 8.4% in the first quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 283,284 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 21,896 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc.’s holdings in Pacira BioSciences were worth $6,402,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Impax Asset Management Group plc boosted its stake in shares of Pacira BioSciences by 25.0% in the fourth quarter. Impax Asset Management Group plc now owns 750,027 shares of the company’s stock worth $19,411,000 after acquiring an additional 150,000 shares during the period. Hillsdale Investment Management Inc. bought a new stake in Pacira BioSciences during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $7,976,000. Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc. raised its stake in Pacira BioSciences by 171.4% during the 4th quarter. Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc. now owns 138,105 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,574,000 after purchasing an additional 87,210 shares during the period. Gagnon Advisors LLC raised its stake in Pacira BioSciences by 22.3% during the 4th quarter. Gagnon Advisors LLC now owns 260,908 shares of the company’s stock valued at $6,752,000 after purchasing an additional 47,506 shares during the period. Finally, LSV Asset Management lifted its holdings in Pacira BioSciences by 179.8% in the 4th quarter. LSV Asset Management now owns 319,800 shares of the company’s stock worth $8,276,000 after purchasing an additional 205,500 shares in the last quarter. 99.73% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

PCRX has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Royal Bank Of Canada upped their price target on Pacira BioSciences from $22.00 to $24.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Friday, May 1st. Zacks Research raised shares of Pacira BioSciences from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 7th. Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of Pacira BioSciences from a “sell (d)” rating to a “sell (d+)” rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 20th. HC Wainwright reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $38.00 target price on shares of Pacira BioSciences in a research note on Wednesday, July 1st. Finally, Needham & Company LLC lifted their price target on shares of Pacira BioSciences from $30.00 to $32.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, May 1st. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, three have given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $29.40.

Pacira BioSciences Stock Up 2.3%

Shares of NASDAQ PCRX opened at $26.47 on Tuesday. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $24.17 and its 200-day moving average price is $23.19. The company has a current ratio of 4.73, a quick ratio of 3.35 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.56. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.04 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 220.60 and a beta of 0.27. Pacira BioSciences, Inc. has a 12-month low of $18.80 and a 12-month high of $27.64.

Pacira BioSciences (NASDAQ:PCRX) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 30th. The company reported $0.60 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.61 by ($0.01). Pacira BioSciences had a net margin of 0.70% and a return on equity of 10.24%. The business had revenue of $177.38 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $171.80 million. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $0.65 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 5.0% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Pacira BioSciences, Inc. will post 1.94 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Transactions at Pacira BioSciences

In other news, SVP Lauren Riker sold 6,115 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, June 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $23.50, for a total value of $143,702.50. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president directly owned 62,284 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,463,674. This trade represents a 8.94% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. 6.40% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Pacira BioSciences Profile

Pacira BioSciences, Inc is a specialty pharmaceutical company focused on developing and commercializing non-opioid, non-addictive pain management and regenerative health solutions. The company’s flagship product, EXPAREL, is a bupivacaine liposome injectable suspension designed to provide long-lasting postsurgical analgesia. EXPAREL is used by clinicians across a broad range of surgical procedures to reduce reliance on opioid medications and to help manage acute postoperative pain.

In addition to its marketed offering, Pacira maintains an active pipeline of investigational products aimed at addressing unmet needs in pain management and inflammation control.