Short Interest in Capricor Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:CAPR) Increases By 34.6%

Key Points

• Short interest up 34.6% — short interest rose to 9,878,573 shares as of March 31, equal to 19.2% of the stock and a days-to-cover of 6.7 based on average daily volume.
• Significant insider selling — CFO Anthony Bergmann and a director sold shares in late March/early April, and insiders have disposed of 147,529 shares worth $4.51M over the last 90 days while owning 10.5% of the company.
• Mixed market signals — nine analysts rate CAPR a Buy versus one Sell with a consensus target of $46.09, but the company recently missed EPS estimates and the stock remains volatile, trading around $35 with a 52-week range of $4.30–$40.37.

Capricor Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:CAPR - Get Free Report) saw a large growth in short interest during the month of March. As of March 31st, there was short interest totaling 9,878,573 shares, a growth of 34.6% from the March 15th total of 7,340,980 shares. Currently, 19.2% of the shares of the stock are short sold. Based on an average daily volume of 1,477,571 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 6.7 days.

Insider Activity at Capricor Therapeutics

In related news, CFO Anthony Bergmann sold 25,000 shares of Capricor Therapeutics stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 31st. The shares were sold at an average price of $30.13, for a total transaction of $753,250.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 8,223 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $247,758.99. The trade was a 75.25% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Director Karimah Es Sabar sold 7,529 shares of Capricor Therapeutics stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, April 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $32.00, for a total transaction of $240,928.00. Following the sale, the director directly owned 7,529 shares in the company, valued at $240,928. This trade represents a 50.00% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders have sold a total of 147,529 shares of company stock worth $4,509,940 over the last ninety days. 10.50% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. ACT Capital Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Capricor Therapeutics in the 4th quarter worth approximately $43,000. GoalVest Advisory LLC acquired a new position in shares of Capricor Therapeutics in the 4th quarter worth approximately $59,000. Allworth Financial LP lifted its position in shares of Capricor Therapeutics by 5,021.5% in the 4th quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 3,329 shares of the biotechnology company's stock worth $96,000 after purchasing an additional 3,264 shares during the period. Farther Finance Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Capricor Therapeutics in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $28,000. Finally, State of Wyoming lifted its position in shares of Capricor Therapeutics by 76.0% in the 4th quarter. State of Wyoming now owns 4,429 shares of the biotechnology company's stock worth $128,000 after purchasing an additional 1,913 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 21.68% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

CAPR has been the topic of several research reports. Piper Sandler reaffirmed an "overweight" rating and set a $58.00 price target (up from $45.00) on shares of Capricor Therapeutics in a report on Friday, March 13th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a "sell (e+)" rating on shares of Capricor Therapeutics in a report on Monday, December 29th. B. Riley Financial lifted their target price on shares of Capricor Therapeutics from $50.00 to $63.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Friday, March 13th. Cantor Fitzgerald set a $62.00 target price on shares of Capricor Therapeutics and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Friday, March 13th. Finally, Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of Capricor Therapeutics from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a research report on Sunday, January 11th. Nine analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $46.09.

Capricor Therapeutics Trading Up 1.0%

NASDAQ:CAPR traded up $0.35 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, hitting $35.07. 494,915 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,335,723. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $28.70 and a 200-day simple moving average of $20.47. Capricor Therapeutics has a fifty-two week low of $4.30 and a fifty-two week high of $40.37. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.03 billion, a P/E ratio of -15.50 and a beta of 0.48.

Capricor Therapeutics (NASDAQ:CAPR - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, March 12th. The biotechnology company reported ($0.62) EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($0.51) by ($0.11). As a group, analysts expect that Capricor Therapeutics will post -1.21 earnings per share for the current year.

About Capricor Therapeutics

Capricor Therapeutics, Inc is a clinical-stage biotechnology company focused on the development of cell and exosome-based therapeutics for cardiovascular and rare diseases. Headquartered in Beverly Hills, California, the company leverages proprietary cardiosphere-derived cell (CDC) technology to address conditions characterized by inflammation, fibrosis, and tissue degeneration. Since its founding, Capricor has advanced its lead candidate through multiple clinical trials and has built a pipeline that spans both cell therapy and extracellular vesicle (exosome) platforms.

The company's leading product candidate, CAP-1002, comprises allogeneic CDCs and is being evaluated in indications such as Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD) and COVID-19-related heart injury.

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