Avid Bioservices (NASDAQ:CDMO) Sees Strong Trading Volume – Still a Buy?

Shares of Avid Bioservices, Inc. (NASDAQ:CDMO) saw unusually-strong trading volume on Thursday . Approximately 4,934,812 shares were traded during mid-day trading, an increase of 282% from the previous session’s volume of 1,291,405 shares.The stock last traded at $12.04 and had previously closed at $12.20.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts have recently commented on CDMO shares. Stephens reissued an “overweight” rating and issued a $12.00 price objective on shares of Avid Bioservices in a research note on Tuesday, September 10th. StockNews.com raised Avid Bioservices to a “sell” rating in a research note on Tuesday, September 10th. William Blair reissued a “market perform” rating on shares of Avid Bioservices in a research note on Thursday, November 7th. Craig Hallum downgraded Avid Bioservices from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 7th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reissued a “sector perform” rating and issued a $12.50 price objective (up previously from $12.00) on shares of Avid Bioservices in a research note on Thursday, November 7th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $13.63.

Avid Bioservices Stock Down 2.2 %

The company has a current ratio of 1.46, a quick ratio of 1.05 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.74. The firm has a market capitalization of $761.01 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -5.38 and a beta of 1.40. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $10.72 and a 200-day moving average of $9.54.

Avid Bioservices (NASDAQ:CDMO) last issued its earnings results on Monday, September 9th. The biopharmaceutical company reported ($0.07) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.08) by $0.01. The business had revenue of $40.17 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $39.50 million. Avid Bioservices had a negative return on equity of 16.53% and a negative net margin of 101.26%. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Avid Bioservices, Inc. will post -0.38 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Nicholas Stewart Green sold 17,173 shares of Avid Bioservices stock in a transaction on Thursday, October 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $10.05, for a total transaction of $172,588.65. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 226,653 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,277,862.65. The trade was a 7.04 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 19,323 shares of company stock worth $194,208. 3.05% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. grew its stake in Avid Bioservices by 7.1% in the first quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 43,661 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $293,000 after purchasing an additional 2,900 shares in the last quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC grew its stake in Avid Bioservices by 104.5% in the first quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC now owns 61,545 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $412,000 after purchasing an additional 31,450 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in Avid Bioservices by 1.3% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 3,665,188 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $24,557,000 after purchasing an additional 47,315 shares in the last quarter. Anson Funds Management LP grew its stake in Avid Bioservices by 20.5% in the first quarter. Anson Funds Management LP now owns 164,313 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $1,101,000 after purchasing an additional 28,000 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD grew its stake in Avid Bioservices by 5.8% in the first quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 30,299 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $204,000 after purchasing an additional 1,649 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 97.16% of the company’s stock.

Avid Bioservices Company Profile

Avid Bioservices, Inc operates as a contract development and manufacturing organization for the biotechnology and biopharmaceutical industries in the United States. It provides process development and current good manufacturing practice clinical and commercial manufacturing services of biologics, including clinical and commercial drug substance manufacturing, bulk packaging, release and stability testing, regulatory submission and support, upstream and downstream development and optimization, analytical methods development, cell line development, testing, and characterization services.