Sera Prognostics, Inc. (NASDAQ:SERA) Short Interest Up 54.2% in March

Key Points

• Short interest surged 54.2% in March, rising to 381,493 shares as of March 31, with a days-to-cover ratio of 4.6 and about 1.1% of the company's stock sold short.
• Company remains unprofitable: Sera reported Q1 EPS of -$0.16 (beating estimates by $0.01) but revenue missed expectations and the firm has very large negative margins; market cap is about $83.7M and the consensus analyst target is $5.00 (average rating: Moderate Buy).
• Insiders and institutions active: CEO sold 22,639 shares in March (insiders sold 55,133 shares in the last 90 days) while insiders own 15.8% and institutions own 54.64%, with several funds recently initiating or increasing stakes.

Sera Prognostics, Inc. (NASDAQ:SERA - Get Free Report) was the target of a significant growth in short interest during the month of March. As of March 31st, there was short interest totaling 381,493 shares, a growth of 54.2% from the March 15th total of 247,469 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 82,680 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 4.6 days. Currently, 1.1% of the company's stock are sold short.

Sera Prognostics Stock Up 0.4%

SERA stock traded up $0.01 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, reaching $2.14. 1,305 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 58,771. Sera Prognostics has a 52 week low of $1.37 and a 52 week high of $4.09. The business has a 50-day moving average of $2.21 and a two-hundred day moving average of $2.87. The firm has a market capitalization of $83.72 million, a PE ratio of -3.13 and a beta of 1.05.

Sera Prognostics (NASDAQ:SERA - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, March 18th. The company reported ($0.16) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of ($0.17) by $0.01. Sera Prognostics had a negative net margin of 39,417.29% and a negative return on equity of 37.50%. The company had revenue of $0.01 million during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $0.03 million. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Sera Prognostics will post -0.96 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts have commented on the stock. Jefferies Financial Group raised shares of Sera Prognostics to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Monday, December 15th. Weiss Ratings reissued a "sell (d-)" rating on shares of Sera Prognostics in a research report on Friday, March 27th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating and one has given a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Sera Prognostics currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $5.00.

Insider Buying and Selling at Sera Prognostics

In other Sera Prognostics news, CEO Zhenya Lindgardt sold 22,639 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $1.90, for a total transaction of $43,014.10. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 741,287 shares of the company's stock, valued at $1,408,445.30. This represents a 2.96% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Insiders have sold 55,133 shares of company stock valued at $109,794 over the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 15.80% of the company's stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Sera Prognostics

Hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Two Sigma Investments LP bought a new stake in shares of Sera Prognostics in the third quarter valued at about $97,000. Jane Street Group LLC bought a new stake in shares of Sera Prognostics in the fourth quarter valued at about $203,000. Corient Private Wealth LLC lifted its stake in shares of Sera Prognostics by 73.9% in the second quarter. Corient Private Wealth LLC now owns 100,000 shares of the company's stock valued at $277,000 after buying an additional 42,500 shares during the period. Captrust Financial Advisors lifted its stake in shares of Sera Prognostics by 20.0% in the second quarter. Captrust Financial Advisors now owns 602,277 shares of the company's stock valued at $1,668,000 after buying an additional 100,366 shares during the period. Finally, Citadel Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of Sera Prognostics by 1.9% in the third quarter. Citadel Advisors LLC now owns 653,746 shares of the company's stock valued at $2,000,000 after buying an additional 12,439 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 54.64% of the company's stock.

About Sera Prognostics

Sera Prognostics, Inc is a precision medicine company focused on improving pregnancy outcomes through proteomic testing. The company's flagship product, the PreTRM™ test, is a blood-based assay designed to assess a woman's risk of delivering prematurely by measuring specific protein biomarkers in maternal serum. By identifying patients at elevated risk for spontaneous preterm birth, Sera Prognostics aims to enable earlier interventions and tailored care plans that can reduce the incidence of neonatal complications associated with early delivery.

Since its founding in 2014 and subsequent initial public offering in 2020, Sera Prognostics has worked closely with clinical research networks and obstetric care providers across the United States to validate the clinical performance of its PreTRM test.

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