OPKO Health (NASDAQ:OPK) Trading Up 7.9%

OPKO Health, Inc. (NASDAQ:OPK)’s share price shot up 7.9% during trading on Wednesday . The company traded as high as $1.11 and last traded at $1.09. 5,958,768 shares changed hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 60% from the average session volume of 14,938,898 shares. The stock had previously closed at $1.01.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have recently commented on OPK. StockNews.com lowered OPKO Health from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Friday, March 1st. Barrington Research dropped their price objective on OPKO Health from $2.00 to $1.50 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, February 28th. Finally, HC Wainwright reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $3.00 price objective on shares of OPKO Health in a research note on Wednesday, February 28th.

OPKO Health Stock Up 12.1 %

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15, a current ratio of 1.55 and a quick ratio of 1.22. The stock has a market capitalization of $836.39 million, a P/E ratio of -4.80 and a beta of 1.80. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $0.99 and a 200-day moving average of $1.27.

OPKO Health (NASDAQ:OPK) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 27th. The biotechnology company reported ($0.09) earnings per share for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of ($0.09). OPKO Health had a negative return on equity of 12.69% and a negative net margin of 21.76%. The company had revenue of $181.90 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $177.53 million. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted ($0.11) EPS. The company’s revenue was down 1.9% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts expect that OPKO Health, Inc. will post -0.33 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In other OPKO Health news, CEO Phillip Md Et Al Frost bought 1,500,000 shares of OPKO Health stock in a transaction dated Friday, January 5th. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $0.90 per share, with a total value of $1,350,000.00. Following the acquisition, the chief executive officer now directly owns 203,456,694 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $183,111,024.60. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. In other news, Director Richard M. Krasno acquired 30,000 shares of OPKO Health stock in a transaction on Monday, January 29th. The shares were purchased at an average price of $0.99 per share, with a total value of $29,700.00. Following the acquisition, the director now owns 103,333 shares in the company, valued at $102,299.67. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, CEO Phillip Md Et Al Frost acquired 1,500,000 shares of OPKO Health stock in a transaction on Friday, January 5th. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $0.90 per share, for a total transaction of $1,350,000.00. Following the acquisition, the chief executive officer now owns 203,456,694 shares in the company, valued at approximately $183,111,024.60. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders have purchased 8,993,015 shares of company stock worth $8,479,069. Company insiders own 47.26% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. State Street Corp raised its position in shares of OPKO Health by 56.7% during the 1st quarter. State Street Corp now owns 27,688,831 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $95,250,000 after acquiring an additional 10,014,088 shares during the last quarter. Millennium Management LLC increased its position in shares of OPKO Health by 318.6% in the 2nd quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 7,390,435 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $18,698,000 after buying an additional 5,624,866 shares in the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. increased its position in shares of OPKO Health by 300.4% in the 3rd quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 5,164,180 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $8,263,000 after buying an additional 3,874,519 shares in the last quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC increased its position in shares of OPKO Health by 848.7% in the 2nd quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 3,890,172 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $9,842,000 after buying an additional 3,480,129 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of OPKO Health in the 4th quarter valued at $4,042,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 64.63% of the company’s stock.

About OPKO Health

OPKO Health, Inc, a healthcare company, engages in the diagnostics and pharmaceuticals businesses in the United States, Ireland, Chile, Spain, Israel, Mexico, and internationally. The company's Diagnostics segment operates BioReference Laboratories that offers laboratory testing services for the detection, diagnosis, evaluation, monitoring, and treatment of diseases, including esoteric testing, molecular diagnostics, anatomical pathology, genetics, women's health, and correctional healthcare to physician offices, clinics, hospitals, employers, and governmental units; and 4Kscore prostate cancer test.