Heron Therapeutics Sees Unusually Large Options Volume (NASDAQ:HRTX)

Heron Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:HRTX) was the target of unusually large options trading activity on Wednesday. Traders purchased 5,176 call options on the company. This is an increase of approximately 907% compared to the typical volume of 514 call options.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

HRTX has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Needham & Company LLC dropped their price objective on shares of Heron Therapeutics from $5.00 to $4.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, November 13th. StockNews.com lowered Heron Therapeutics from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, November 21st.

Heron Therapeutics Stock Performance

Shares of HRTX opened at $1.16 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $176.44 million, a P/E ratio of -6.44 and a beta of 1.81. The business’s 50-day moving average is $1.71 and its two-hundred day moving average is $2.42. Heron Therapeutics has a fifty-two week low of $1.04 and a fifty-two week high of $3.93.

Heron Therapeutics (NASDAQ:HRTX) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, November 12th. The biotechnology company reported ($0.03) EPS for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of ($0.03). The company had revenue of $32.81 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $36.40 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted ($0.17) EPS. Analysts forecast that Heron Therapeutics will post -0.13 EPS for the current year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Heron Therapeutics

Several hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the company. Barclays PLC raised its holdings in Heron Therapeutics by 29.8% in the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 218,455 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $434,000 after purchasing an additional 50,109 shares during the period. Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd purchased a new stake in Heron Therapeutics in the 3rd quarter worth $39,000. XTX Topco Ltd raised its position in Heron Therapeutics by 449.0% during the third quarter. XTX Topco Ltd now owns 297,568 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $592,000 after acquiring an additional 243,363 shares during the period. Zacks Investment Management lifted its holdings in Heron Therapeutics by 2.4% during the third quarter. Zacks Investment Management now owns 475,575 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $946,000 after purchasing an additional 11,320 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Clearline Capital LP lifted its holdings in Heron Therapeutics by 48.9% during the third quarter. Clearline Capital LP now owns 2,226,512 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $4,431,000 after purchasing an additional 731,246 shares in the last quarter. 80.01% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

About Heron Therapeutics

Heron Therapeutics, Inc, a commercial-stage biotechnology company, focuses on enhancing the lives of patients by developing and commercializing therapeutic that enhances medical care. The company's product candidates utilize its proprietary Biochronomer, a drug delivery technology, which delivers therapeutic levels of a range of short-acting pharmacological agents over a period from days to weeks with a single administration.