Arbutus Biopharma Co. (NASDAQ:ABUS) Short Interest Up 10.2% in March

Arbutus Biopharma Co. (NASDAQ:ABUS) saw a large increase in short interest during the month of March. As of March 31st, there was short interest totalling 4,550,000 shares, an increase of 10.2% from the March 15th total of 4,130,000 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 1,320,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 3.4 days.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of ABUS. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC raised its holdings in Arbutus Biopharma by 114,139.4% during the fourth quarter. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC now owns 14,952,790 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $34,840,000 after buying an additional 14,939,701 shares during the last quarter. Millennium Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Arbutus Biopharma by 106.3% in the second quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 4,159,064 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $11,271,000 after purchasing an additional 2,142,740 shares during the last quarter. BlackRock Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Arbutus Biopharma by 17.8% in the second quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 9,969,527 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $22,930,000 after purchasing an additional 1,505,441 shares during the last quarter. Two Seas Capital LP raised its holdings in shares of Arbutus Biopharma by 166.4% in the first quarter. Two Seas Capital LP now owns 2,199,069 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $6,553,000 after purchasing an additional 1,373,500 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Hudson Bay Capital Management LP raised its holdings in shares of Arbutus Biopharma by 45.8% in the third quarter. Hudson Bay Capital Management LP now owns 4,149,904 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $8,424,000 after purchasing an additional 1,302,978 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 43.79% of the company’s stock.

Arbutus Biopharma Trading Up 2.1 %

ABUS opened at $2.97 on Tuesday. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $2.76 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $2.32. Arbutus Biopharma has a 1-year low of $1.69 and a 1-year high of $3.29. The company has a market cap of $533.09 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -6.75 and a beta of 2.03.

Arbutus Biopharma (NASDAQ:ABUS) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 29th. The biopharmaceutical company reported ($0.12) earnings per share for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of ($0.12). Arbutus Biopharma had a negative net margin of 401.57% and a negative return on equity of 57.82%. The firm had revenue of $2.15 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.74 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted ($0.14) earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Arbutus Biopharma will post -0.39 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

ABUS has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. HC Wainwright reduced their price objective on shares of Arbutus Biopharma from $6.00 to $5.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, March 1st. Chardan Capital reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $4.00 target price on shares of Arbutus Biopharma in a research report on Friday, March 1st. Finally, JMP Securities reiterated a “market outperform” rating and set a $4.00 target price on shares of Arbutus Biopharma in a research report on Thursday, April 4th.

About Arbutus Biopharma

Arbutus Biopharma Corporation, a biopharmaceutical company, develops novel therapeutics for chronic Hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection in the United States. Its HBV product pipeline consists of imdusiran (AB-729), a proprietary subcutaneously-delivered RNAi therapeutic product candidate that suppresses all HBV antigens, including HBsAg expression.