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

Silence Therapeutics PLC Sponsored ADR (NASDAQ:SLN) was the target of unusually large options trading on Monday. Investors purchased 12,157 call options on the company. This is an increase of 1,019% compared to the typical daily volume of 1,086 call options.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Silence Therapeutics

Several large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its stake in Silence Therapeutics by 18.1% in the second quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 11,063 shares of the company’s stock valued at $121,000 after buying an additional 1,698 shares during the last quarter. AXQ Capital LP acquired a new position in shares of Silence Therapeutics during the second quarter valued at $138,000. Bank of America Corp DE boosted its holdings in shares of Silence Therapeutics by 903.8% during the first quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 29,773 shares of the company’s stock valued at $157,000 after acquiring an additional 26,807 shares during the period. Seven Fleet Capital Management LP grew its position in shares of Silence Therapeutics by 6.2% during the first quarter. Seven Fleet Capital Management LP now owns 156,759 shares of the company’s stock worth $826,000 after acquiring an additional 9,159 shares during the last quarter. Finally, ADAR1 Capital Management LLC grew its position in shares of 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 acquiring an additional 148,514 shares during the last quarter. 98.73% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Silence Therapeutics Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:SLN traded up $10.88 during trading on Monday, reaching $19.57. 47,598,503 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 837,888. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.18 billion, a P/E ratio of -15.29 and a beta of 1.45. The company has a 50 day moving average of $12.36 and a 200-day moving average of $9.62. Silence Therapeutics has a 12 month low of $4.19 and a 12 month high of $19.61.

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

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms recently commented on SLN. Cantor Fitzgerald initiated coverage on Silence Therapeutics in a research note on Wednesday, June 24th. They issued an “overweight” rating on the stock. Weiss Ratings restated a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of Silence Therapeutics in a report on Thursday. Finally, Morgan Stanley lifted their price objective on Silence Therapeutics from $25.00 to $32.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 11th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, four have issued a Buy rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $53.50.

About Silence Therapeutics

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.