Investors Buy High Volume of PureCycle Technologies Put Options (NASDAQ:PCT)

PureCycle Technologies, Inc. (NASDAQ:PCT) was the target of unusually large options trading on Wednesday. Stock investors bought 22,853 put options on the stock. This is an increase of approximately 71% compared to the average daily volume of 13,358 put options.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

PCT has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of PureCycle Technologies in a research report on Thursday, January 22nd. TD Cowen reduced their price target on shares of PureCycle Technologies from $7.00 to $6.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, May 8th. Wall Street Zen lowered shares of PureCycle Technologies from a “sell” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a research report on Sunday. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald reduced their price target on shares of PureCycle Technologies from $16.00 to $14.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, February 27th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, one has given a Buy rating, one has given a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $12.00.

PureCycle Technologies Stock Up 2.8%

Shares of NASDAQ PCT traded up $0.28 during trading hours on Wednesday, hitting $10.04. The stock had a trading volume of 2,380,982 shares, compared to its average volume of 4,418,914. The company has a market capitalization of $1.82 billion, a P/E ratio of -6.83 and a beta of 2.31. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $6.42 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $8.50. PureCycle Technologies has a 52 week low of $4.93 and a 52 week high of $17.37. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 47.59, a quick ratio of 1.57 and a current ratio of 1.71.

PureCycle Technologies (NASDAQ:PCT) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, May 6th. The company reported ($0.21) EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($0.26) by $0.05. The business had revenue of $4.13 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.83 million. PureCycle Technologies had a negative return on equity of 393.01% and a negative net margin of 2,062.36%. Analysts anticipate that PureCycle Technologies will post -0.93 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On PureCycle Technologies

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of PCT. Appian Way Asset Management LP raised its stake in shares of PureCycle Technologies by 1.4% in the 3rd quarter. Appian Way Asset Management LP now owns 4,315,655 shares of the company’s stock valued at $56,751,000 after acquiring an additional 59,676 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its stake in shares of PureCycle Technologies by 0.5% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 3,365,871 shares of the company’s stock valued at $28,918,000 after acquiring an additional 15,536 shares in the last quarter. Simplify Asset Management Inc. raised its stake in shares of PureCycle Technologies by 227.4% in the 4th quarter. Simplify Asset Management Inc. now owns 1,933,564 shares of the company’s stock valued at $16,609,000 after acquiring an additional 1,342,955 shares in the last quarter. Royal Bank of Canada raised its stake in shares of PureCycle Technologies by 41.8% in the 4th quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 1,671,756 shares of the company’s stock valued at $14,361,000 after acquiring an additional 492,975 shares in the last quarter. Finally, PNC Financial Services Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of PureCycle Technologies by 18.2% in the 1st quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 1,445,556 shares of the company’s stock valued at $7,502,000 after acquiring an additional 222,996 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 63.01% of the company’s stock.

PureCycle Technologies Company Profile

PureCycle Technologies, Inc operates as a recycling technology company focused on restoring waste polypropylene to a “virgin-like” state through a proprietary purification process licensed from Procter & Gamble. The company develops, owns and operates recycling facilities that convert used polypropylene feedstock—such as packaging and industrial plastics—into ultra‐pure recycled resin. This resin, known as Qualified Recycled Polymer (QRP), is designed to meet stringent quality specifications for applications in packaging, consumer goods and industrial products.

Headquartered in Orlando, Florida, PureCycle was established with technology development efforts dating back to licensing agreements in the mid-2010s and later spun off as a publicly traded entity in 2021.