Silence Therapeutics plc (NASDAQ:SLN) Short Interest Update

Silence Therapeutics plc (NASDAQ:SLN - Get Free Report) was the target of a large decrease in short interest in May. As of May 15th, there was short interest totalling 1,250,000 shares, a decrease of 15.0% from the April 30th total of 1,470,000 shares. Currently, 4.2% of the shares of the stock are short sold. Based on an average daily volume of 228,700 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 5.5 days.

Silence Therapeutics Stock Performance

Shares of SLN traded up $0.03 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $5.44. 213,957 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 304,177. The company has a market cap of $162.82 million, a PE ratio of -3.46 and a beta of 1.41. Silence Therapeutics has a 52-week low of $1.97 and a 52-week high of $22.47. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $3.86 and a two-hundred day moving average of $5.02.

Silence Therapeutics (NASDAQ:SLN - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Thursday, May 8th. The company reported ($0.60) earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($0.18) by ($0.42). The company had revenue of $0.14 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.58 million. Silence Therapeutics had a negative net margin of 342.00% and a negative return on equity of 62.81%. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Silence Therapeutics will post -1.77 EPS for the current year.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Silence Therapeutics

A number of large investors have recently bought and sold shares of SLN. Redmile Group LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Silence Therapeutics by 26.3% in the 4th quarter. Redmile Group LLC now owns 2,399,317 shares of the company's stock worth $16,507,000 after buying an additional 500,000 shares during the period. Nantahala Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Silence Therapeutics by 424.8% during the 4th quarter. Nantahala Capital Management LLC now owns 1,049,676 shares of the company's stock worth $7,222,000 after purchasing an additional 849,676 shares during the last quarter. Point72 Asset Management L.P. lifted its stake in shares of Silence Therapeutics by 35.3% during the 4th quarter. Point72 Asset Management L.P. now owns 633,100 shares of the company's stock worth $4,356,000 after purchasing an additional 165,300 shares during the last quarter. Cantor Fitzgerald L. P. lifted its stake in shares of Silence Therapeutics by 61.5% during the 4th quarter. Cantor Fitzgerald L. P. now owns 539,726 shares of the company's stock worth $3,713,000 after purchasing an additional 205,534 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Bank of America Corp DE lifted its stake in shares of Silence Therapeutics by 48,165.6% during the 4th quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 499,066 shares of the company's stock worth $3,434,000 after purchasing an additional 498,032 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 98.73% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have commented on the company. Chardan Capital reduced their price target on Silence Therapeutics from $55.00 to $35.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, May 9th. HC Wainwright reissued a "buy" rating and issued a $75.00 price objective on shares of Silence Therapeutics in a research note on Friday, March 7th. BMO Capital Markets reduced their price objective on Silence Therapeutics from $67.00 to $25.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, March 4th. The Goldman Sachs Group reduced their price objective on Silence Therapeutics from $4.00 to $3.00 and set a "sell" rating for the company in a report on Friday, May 9th. Finally, Morgan Stanley cut their price target on Silence Therapeutics from $45.00 to $25.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a report on Friday, May 9th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating and six have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Silence Therapeutics presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $33.83.

Silence Therapeutics Company Profile

Silence Therapeutics plc, a biotechnology company, focuses on the discovery and development novel molecules incorporating short interfering ribonucleic acid (siRNA) to inhibit the expression of specific target genes in hematology, cardiovascular, and rare diseases. The company's mRNAi GalNAc Oligonucleotide Discovery platform consists of precision engineered product candidates designed to target specific disease-associated genes in the liver.