Century Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:IPSC) Short Interest Up 19.3% in March

Key Points

• Short interest up 19.3% in March to 10,289,543 shares (about 6.0% of shares outstanding) with a days-to-cover of 5.6, indicating increased bearish positioning and potential squeeze dynamics.
• Shares traded at $2.60 midday with a market cap of ~$467.3M; the company beat quarterly EPS estimates ($-0.25 vs. -0.29) but remains loss-making and analysts expect -1.61 EPS for the year.
• Analyst sentiment is mixed with a consensus Hold and an average price target of $4.00, while insiders recently sold shares and institutional investors own roughly 50.2% of the stock.

Century Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:IPSC - Get Free Report) saw a large growth in short interest in March. As of March 31st, there was short interest totaling 10,289,543 shares, a growth of 19.3% from the March 15th total of 8,626,834 shares. Currently, 6.0% of the shares of the company are sold short. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 1,839,949 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 5.6 days.

Century Therapeutics Stock Performance

Century Therapeutics stock traded up $0.16 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $2.60. 1,905,104 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,577,701. The company's fifty day moving average is $2.25 and its 200-day moving average is $1.42. The firm has a market cap of $467.27 million, a PE ratio of -18.57 and a beta of 1.66. Century Therapeutics has a 52 week low of $0.44 and a 52 week high of $3.04.

Century Therapeutics (NASDAQ:IPSC - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, March 12th. The company reported ($0.25) earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of ($0.29) by $0.04. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Century Therapeutics will post -1.61 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at Century Therapeutics

In related news, insider Gregory Russotti sold 10,076 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $2.55, for a total transaction of $25,693.80. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 515,427 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,314,338.85. This represents a 1.92% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 17,921 shares of company stock worth $45,458. Corporate insiders own 4.37% of the company's stock.

Institutional Trading of Century Therapeutics

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of IPSC. Adage Capital Partners GP L.L.C. bought a new stake in Century Therapeutics during the 4th quarter worth approximately $1,829,000. Spruce Street Capital LP bought a new stake in Century Therapeutics during the 4th quarter worth approximately $1,414,000. Jane Street Group LLC bought a new stake in Century Therapeutics during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $248,000. Two Sigma Investments LP increased its holdings in Century Therapeutics by 59.2% during the 3rd quarter. Two Sigma Investments LP now owns 911,446 shares of the company's stock worth $454,000 after acquiring an additional 338,902 shares during the period. Finally, Squarepoint Ops LLC increased its holdings in Century Therapeutics by 483.1% during the 3rd quarter. Squarepoint Ops LLC now owns 236,053 shares of the company's stock worth $118,000 after acquiring an additional 195,573 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 50.20% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages recently commented on IPSC. Zacks Research cut shares of Century Therapeutics from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Thursday, March 12th. Piper Sandler upped their price target on shares of Century Therapeutics from $2.00 to $4.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 20th. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Century Therapeutics from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Saturday, March 7th. Weiss Ratings restated a "sell (d-)" rating on shares of Century Therapeutics in a research note on Monday, April 6th. Finally, Leerink Partners set a $2.00 price target on shares of Century Therapeutics and gave the company a "market perform" rating in a research note on Friday, March 13th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, two have issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $4.00.

Century Therapeutics Company Profile

Century Therapeutics is a clinical-stage biotechnology company focused on the discovery and development of allogeneic cell therapies for cancer. Utilizing induced pluripotent stem cell (iPSC) technology, the company engineers “off-the-shelf” natural killer (NK) and T cell candidates designed to target hematologic malignancies and solid tumors. By harnessing iPSC-derived immune cells, Century aims to overcome challenges associated with patient-derived therapies, such as manufacturing variability and treatment delays.

The company's proprietary platform integrates gene editing, synthetic biology and scalable cell expansion processes to generate a pipeline of product candidates.

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