Enanta Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:ENTA) Short Interest Down 27.2% in February

Enanta Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:ENTA) was the target of a significant drop in short interest in February. As of February 28th, there was short interest totalling 2,600,000 shares, a drop of 27.2% from the February 13th total of 3,570,000 shares. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 562,300 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 4.6 days. Approximately 13.1% of the company’s stock are sold short.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

ENTA has been the topic of several recent research reports. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Enanta Pharmaceuticals from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 19th. HC Wainwright reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $18.00 target price on shares of Enanta Pharmaceuticals in a research report on Tuesday, February 11th. JMP Securities restated a “market outperform” rating and issued a $21.00 price target on shares of Enanta Pharmaceuticals in a research note on Tuesday, February 11th. Finally, Robert W. Baird dropped their price objective on Enanta Pharmaceuticals from $26.00 to $20.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, November 26th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has assigned a hold rating, three have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $17.25.

Enanta Pharmaceuticals Stock Performance

Enanta Pharmaceuticals stock traded up $0.07 during midday trading on Tuesday, reaching $6.17. 156,270 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 277,516. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $6.22 and its 200 day simple moving average is $8.57. The firm has a market cap of $131.52 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -1.25 and a beta of 0.48. Enanta Pharmaceuticals has a 52 week low of $4.71 and a 52 week high of $17.80.

Enanta Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:ENTA) last posted its earnings results on Monday, February 10th. The biotechnology company reported ($1.05) earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of ($1.16) by $0.11. Enanta Pharmaceuticals had a negative return on equity of 75.53% and a negative net margin of 157.57%. Research analysts forecast that Enanta Pharmaceuticals will post -4.65 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CEO Jay R. Luly purchased 45,000 shares of Enanta Pharmaceuticals stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 12th. The stock was purchased at an average price of $5.69 per share, with a total value of $256,050.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 846,638 shares in the company, valued at $4,817,370.22. The trade was a 5.61 % increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. 13.89% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Enanta Pharmaceuticals

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its position in Enanta Pharmaceuticals by 53.7% during the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 243,628 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $2,524,000 after acquiring an additional 85,082 shares during the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. boosted its stake in Enanta Pharmaceuticals by 34.1% in the 4th quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 192,856 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $1,109,000 after purchasing an additional 49,050 shares during the period. Barclays PLC grew its holdings in Enanta Pharmaceuticals by 294.2% in the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 27,438 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $285,000 after buying an additional 20,478 shares in the last quarter. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. acquired a new position in Enanta Pharmaceuticals in the 3rd quarter valued at $122,000. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC increased its position in Enanta Pharmaceuticals by 3.1% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 477,351 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $4,946,000 after buying an additional 14,575 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 94.99% of the company’s stock.

About Enanta Pharmaceuticals

Enanta Pharmaceuticals, Inc, a biotechnology company, discovers and develops small molecule drugs for the treatment of viral infections and liver diseases. Its product pipeline comprises EDP-514, which is in phase 1b clinical development for the treatment of chronic infection with hepatitis B virus or HBV; EDP-938 and EDP-323, which is in phase II clinical development for the treatment of respiratory syncytial virus; EDP-235, which is in phase II clinical development for the treatment of human coronaviruses; and Glecaprevir, which is in the market for the treatment of chronic infection with hepatitis C virus or HCV.