Fate Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:FATE) Short Interest Down 14.1% in February

Key Points

• Short interest down 14.1% — As of Feb 27 short interest fell to 9,563,527 shares (down 14.1% from Feb 12), representing about 8.7% of the stock and a short-interest ratio of 5.5 days.
• Analyst consensus: Hold, $4.10 target — MarketBeat shows a consensus "Hold" with a $4.10 price target (3 Buys, 4 Holds, 1 Sell), while Weiss Ratings recently reaffirmed a "sell (e+)" rating.
• Weak fundamentals despite a small revenue beat — FATE traded at $1.14 with a ~$132M market cap; Q4 EPS was $(0.27) (in line with estimates) and revenue $1.37M slightly beat, but the company reports very large negative margins and negative ROE.

Fate Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:FATE - Get Free Report) saw a large decline in short interest during the month of February. As of February 27th, there was short interest totaling 9,563,527 shares, a decline of 14.1% from the February 12th total of 11,128,203 shares. Approximately 8.7% of the company's stock are short sold. Based on an average daily volume of 1,749,529 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 5.5 days. Based on an average daily volume of 1,749,529 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 5.5 days. Approximately 8.7% of the company's stock are short sold.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Separately, Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a "sell (e+)" rating on shares of Fate Therapeutics in a research report on Thursday, January 22nd. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, four have assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $4.10.

Fate Therapeutics Price Performance

FATE traded down $0.03 during trading hours on Tuesday, hitting $1.14. 994,111 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,681,655. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $1.24 and a 200-day simple moving average of $1.18. Fate Therapeutics has a 12 month low of $0.66 and a 12 month high of $1.94. The stock has a market cap of $131.96 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -0.99 and a beta of 2.18.

Fate Therapeutics (NASDAQ:FATE - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Thursday, February 26th. The biopharmaceutical company reported ($0.27) earnings per share for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of ($0.27). Fate Therapeutics had a negative net margin of 2,051.08% and a negative return on equity of 55.02%. The firm had revenue of $1.37 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.20 million. Sell-side analysts expect that Fate Therapeutics will post -1.63 EPS for the current year.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Fate Therapeutics

Large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Corient Private Wealth LLC bought a new position in shares of Fate Therapeutics during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $29,000. Virtu Financial LLC bought a new stake in shares of Fate Therapeutics in the 4th quarter worth approximately $68,000. Invesco Ltd. increased its holdings in shares of Fate Therapeutics by 20.4% in the 4th quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 379,025 shares of the biopharmaceutical company's stock worth $372,000 after acquiring an additional 64,200 shares during the period. State of Tennessee Department of Treasury bought a new stake in Fate Therapeutics in the 4th quarter valued at about $88,000. Finally, Man Group plc grew its position in Fate Therapeutics by 18.9% in the 4th quarter. Man Group plc now owns 261,172 shares of the biopharmaceutical company's stock worth $257,000 after purchasing an additional 41,514 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 97.54% of the company's stock.

About Fate Therapeutics

Fate Therapeutics, Inc is a clinical‐stage biopharmaceutical company focused on the development of first‐in‐class cellular immunotherapies for cancer and immune disorders. The company leverages its proprietary induced pluripotent stem cell (iPSC) platform to create off‐the‐shelf natural killer (NK) and T‐cell products designed to overcome limitations of donor‐derived approaches. Fate's research aims to deliver therapies with consistent quality, increased potency and scalable manufacturing for broad patient access.

Central to Fate's pipeline are multiple iPSC‐derived cell therapy candidates in active clinical development.

This instant news alert was generated by narrative science technology and financial data from MarketBeat in order to provide readers with the fastest reporting and unbiased coverage. Please send any questions or comments about this story to contact@marketbeat.com.