BioXcel Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:BTAI) Short Interest Up 166.4% in August

Key Points

• Short interest in BioXcel Therapeutics surged by 166.4% in August, with a total of 4,050,000 shares sold short as of August 31st.
• BioXcel reported earnings per share of ($2.45), missing estimates, and revenues of only $0.12 million in the last quarter, below the expected $0.21 million.
• Consensus ratings for the stock include one Strong Buy, three Buys, one Hold, and one Sell, with an average target price of $39.75.

BioXcel Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:BTAI - Get Free Report) was the target of a significant increase in short interest in August. As of August 31st, there was short interest totaling 4,050,000 shares, an increase of 166.4% from the August 15th total of 1,520,000 shares. Approximately 29.0% of the company's stock are sold short. Based on an average daily volume of 9,210,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 0.4 days. Based on an average daily volume of 9,210,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 0.4 days. Approximately 29.0% of the company's stock are sold short.

BioXcel Therapeutics Stock Up 3.3%

Shares of BTAI traded up $0.10 during trading hours on Thursday, hitting $3.00. The company had a trading volume of 1,366,271 shares, compared to its average volume of 5,083,736. The business has a fifty day moving average of $3.39 and a 200-day moving average of $2.39. The firm has a market cap of $47.95 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -0.24 and a beta of 0.20. BioXcel Therapeutics has a 12 month low of $1.17 and a 12 month high of $13.28.

BioXcel Therapeutics (NASDAQ:BTAI - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, August 12th. The company reported ($2.45) EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($2.30) by ($0.15). The company had revenue of $0.12 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $0.21 million. On average, equities analysts expect that BioXcel Therapeutics will post -24.39 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Trading of BioXcel Therapeutics

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of BTAI. Northern Trust Corp boosted its holdings in shares of BioXcel Therapeutics by 81.4% during the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 73,910 shares of the company's stock worth $28,000 after buying an additional 33,161 shares during the period. Squarepoint Ops LLC boosted its holdings in shares of BioXcel Therapeutics by 203.9% during the 4th quarter. Squarepoint Ops LLC now owns 72,046 shares of the company's stock worth $27,000 after buying an additional 48,336 shares during the period. Murchinson Ltd. bought a new stake in shares of BioXcel Therapeutics during the 1st quarter worth about $276,000. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. bought a new stake in shares of BioXcel Therapeutics during the 1st quarter worth about $50,000. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in BioXcel Therapeutics by 27.7% in the 2nd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 28,182 shares of the company's stock valued at $51,000 after purchasing an additional 6,120 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 30.68% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have recently commented on BTAI. Zacks Research lowered shares of BioXcel Therapeutics from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 26th. Wall Street Zen lowered shares of BioXcel Therapeutics from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a research report on Friday, June 27th. Finally, HC Wainwright restated a "buy" rating and set a $10.00 target price on shares of BioXcel Therapeutics in a report on Monday. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, three have issued a Buy rating, one has given a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $39.75.

BioXcel Therapeutics Company Profile

BioXcel Therapeutics, Inc, a commercial-stage biopharmaceutical company, engages in utilizing artificial intelligence approaches to develop transformative medicines in neuroscience and immuno-oncology. The company's drug re-innovation approach leverages existing approved drugs and/or clinically validated product candidates together with big data and proprietary machine learning algorithms to identify new therapeutic indices.