Absci Co. (NASDAQ:ABSI) Sees Large Decline in Short Interest

Absci Co. (NASDAQ:ABSI - Get Free Report) was the recipient of a significant decrease in short interest in April. As of April 15th, there was short interest totalling 8,630,000 shares, a decrease of 17.7% from the March 31st total of 10,480,000 shares. Approximately 10.0% of the company's stock are short sold. Based on an average trading volume of 1,550,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 5.6 days.

Absci Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:ABSI traded up $0.12 on Friday, reaching $4.58. 640,076 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,276,087. The firm has a market capitalization of $517.91 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -3.82 and a beta of 2.36. Absci has a fifty-two week low of $1.11 and a fifty-two week high of $6.72. The business's 50-day moving average is $5.17 and its two-hundred day moving average is $3.60. The company has a quick ratio of 4.08, a current ratio of 4.08 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03.

Absci (NASDAQ:ABSI - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, March 21st. The company reported ($0.25) earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of ($0.23) by ($0.02). The business had revenue of $0.34 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.75 million. Absci had a negative return on equity of 44.52% and a negative net margin of 1,933.65%. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Absci will post -0.76 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity at Absci

In related news, Director Redmile Group, Llc purchased 222,222 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 1st. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $4.50 per share, with a total value of $999,999.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director now directly owns 8,253,316 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $37,139,922. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. 11.58% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Absci

Several institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Holdings Inc. bought a new position in shares of Absci during the first quarter worth about $2,390,000. Cannon Global Investment Management LLC acquired a new position in Absci during the 1st quarter valued at about $104,000. Salem Investment Counselors Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Absci during the 1st quarter worth about $122,000. Hsbc Holdings PLC raised its position in shares of Absci by 153.8% during the 4th quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC now owns 407,579 shares of the company's stock worth $1,769,000 after buying an additional 247,019 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Nations Financial Group Inc. IA ADV acquired a new stake in shares of Absci in the 4th quarter worth approximately $42,000. Institutional investors own 52.05% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts recently issued reports on ABSI shares. KeyCorp upped their price target on shares of Absci from $5.00 to $8.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Monday, March 4th. HC Wainwright reaffirmed a "buy" rating and issued a $7.00 price target on shares of Absci in a report on Friday, March 22nd. Truist Financial reaffirmed a "buy" rating and issued a $9.00 price target on shares of Absci in a report on Tuesday, March 26th. Finally, Scotiabank reissued an "outperform" rating and set a $13.00 target price on shares of Absci in a report on Monday, March 25th.

Absci Company Profile

Absci Corporation operates as a data-first generative artificial intelligence (AI) drug creation company in the United States. The company combines AI with scalable wet lab technologies to create biologics for patients. Its integrated drug creation platform is designed to improve upon traditional biologic drug discovery by using AI to simultaneously optimize multiple drug characteristics that may be important to development and therapeutic benefit.