Gritstone bio, Inc. (NASDAQ:GRTS) Sees Large Growth in Short Interest

Gritstone bio, Inc. (NASDAQ:GRTS - Get Free Report) was the target of a significant increase in short interest in the month of March. As of March 15th, there was short interest totalling 8,820,000 shares, an increase of 7.3% from the February 29th total of 8,220,000 shares. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 2,050,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 4.3 days. Approximately 9.9% of the shares of the stock are short sold.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts have recently commented on the company. JMP Securities increased their price objective on Gritstone bio from $4.00 to $5.00 and gave the company a "market outperform" rating in a report on Tuesday. HC Wainwright reissued a "buy" rating and issued a $7.00 target price on shares of Gritstone bio in a research note on Wednesday, March 6th.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Gritstone bio

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of GRTS. Wexford Capital LP bought a new stake in Gritstone bio during the 4th quarter valued at $26,000. Forum Financial Management LP raised its stake in shares of Gritstone bio by 78.0% during the third quarter. Forum Financial Management LP now owns 17,799 shares of the company's stock valued at $31,000 after acquiring an additional 7,799 shares during the last quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC raised its stake in shares of Gritstone bio by 134.0% during the third quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC now owns 12,325 shares of the company's stock valued at $31,000 after acquiring an additional 7,059 shares during the last quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC bought a new position in Gritstone bio in the second quarter worth about $33,000. Finally, Alliancebernstein L.P. bought a new position in shares of Gritstone bio during the second quarter valued at approximately $35,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 48.46% of the company's stock.

Gritstone bio Price Performance

NASDAQ GRTS traded down $1.15 on Tuesday, hitting $1.20. 25,080,903 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,494,603. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $2.40 and a 200-day moving average of $2.07. The company has a current ratio of 3.20, a quick ratio of 3.20 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.77. Gritstone bio has a 52 week low of $1.14 and a 52 week high of $3.33. The stock has a market cap of $117.68 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -1.00 and a beta of 0.38.

Gritstone bio (NASDAQ:GRTS - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, March 5th. The company reported ($0.26) earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of ($0.36) by $0.10. The firm had revenue of $10.38 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.80 million. Gritstone bio had a negative return on equity of 147.22% and a negative net margin of 847.24%. Analysts expect that Gritstone bio will post -0.94 earnings per share for the current year.

About Gritstone bio

Gritstone bio, Inc, a clinical-stage biotechnology company, engages in developing vaccine-based immunotherapy candidates against cancer and infectious diseases. Its primary product candidate is GRANITE, an individualized immunotherapy candidate, which is in Phase 2/3 clinical trials for the treatment of microsatellite stable colorectal cancers; and has completed Phase 1/2 clinical trials for treating solid tumors.