Viracta Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VIRX) Short Interest Up 89.9% in December

Viracta Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VIRX) was the target of a large increase in short interest in December. As of December 15th, there was short interest totalling 3,000,000 shares, an increase of 89.9% from the November 30th total of 1,580,000 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 2,140,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 1.4 days. Approximately 10.7% of the shares of the stock are sold short.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Viracta Therapeutics

An institutional investor recently bought a new position in Viracta Therapeutics stock. Stonepine Capital Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Viracta Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VIRX) in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm purchased 500,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $116,000. Stonepine Capital Management LLC owned about 1.27% of Viracta Therapeutics as of its most recent filing with the SEC. 31.37% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

VIRX has been the topic of a number of research reports. Rodman & Renshaw reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and set a $0.25 target price (down previously from $3.50) on shares of Viracta Therapeutics in a research note on Friday. Royal Bank of Canada dropped their target price on Viracta Therapeutics from $4.00 to $2.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, November 14th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Viracta Therapeutics currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $4.05.

Viracta Therapeutics Price Performance

NASDAQ VIRX traded down $0.08 on Friday, reaching $0.16. The company had a trading volume of 9,373,380 shares, compared to its average volume of 808,326. The firm has a market cap of $6.36 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -0.15 and a beta of 0.67. Viracta Therapeutics has a fifty-two week low of $0.13 and a fifty-two week high of $1.31. The business has a 50 day moving average of $0.19 and a two-hundred day moving average of $0.31.

About Viracta Therapeutics

Viracta Therapeutics, Inc, a clinical-stage precision oncology company, focuses on the treatment and prevention of virus-associated cancers that impact patients worldwide. Its lead product candidate is Nana-val, an all-oral combination therapy of its proprietary investigational drug, nanatinostat, and the antiviral agent valganciclovir.