AnaptysBio, Inc. (NASDAQ:ANAB) Short Interest Up 54.4% in February

AnaptysBio, Inc. (NASDAQ:ANAB) was the target of a significant growth in short interest during the month of February. As of February 15th, there was short interest totalling 9,310,000 shares, a growth of 54.4% from the January 31st total of 6,030,000 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 932,600 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 10.0 days.

Insider Buying and Selling at AnaptysBio

In other AnaptysBio news, Director Ecor1 Capital, Llc bought 6,646 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, January 2nd. The shares were purchased at an average price of $12.95 per share, with a total value of $86,065.70. Following the completion of the purchase, the director now owns 7,880,094 shares in the company, valued at $102,047,217.30. This represents a 0.08 % increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Company insiders own 33.70% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in ANAB. FMR LLC lifted its stake in AnaptysBio by 15.3% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 3,309,175 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $110,857,000 after acquiring an additional 438,557 shares during the last quarter. Frazier Life Sciences Management L.P. raised its holdings in shares of AnaptysBio by 2.0% in the third quarter. Frazier Life Sciences Management L.P. now owns 2,209,189 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $74,008,000 after buying an additional 43,598 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in AnaptysBio by 8.4% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 1,843,740 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $24,411,000 after acquiring an additional 143,584 shares during the period. Fairmount Funds Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of AnaptysBio during the fourth quarter worth $24,050,000. Finally, Boxer Capital Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of AnaptysBio in the fourth quarter valued at about $17,212,000.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts have recently weighed in on ANAB shares. Truist Financial lowered their price target on shares of AnaptysBio from $30.00 to $20.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, December 18th. Wedbush reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $40.00 target price on shares of AnaptysBio in a research report on Wednesday, February 12th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price target on AnaptysBio from $40.00 to $51.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. Guggenheim reduced their price objective on shares of AnaptysBio from $90.00 to $36.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. Finally, BTIG Research lowered AnaptysBio from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, December 2nd. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, six have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $34.44.

AnaptysBio Price Performance

ANAB stock traded up $0.51 during midday trading on Tuesday, hitting $15.15. 357,005 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,064,655. AnaptysBio has a 1-year low of $12.21 and a 1-year high of $41.31. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $16.02 and its 200-day simple moving average is $24.46. The firm has a market cap of $460.97 million and a P/E ratio of -2.48.

AnaptysBio (NASDAQ:ANAB) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 27th. The biotechnology company reported ($0.72) EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of ($1.61) by $0.89. The company had revenue of $43.11 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $10.17 million. AnaptysBio had a negative return on equity of 287.94% and a negative net margin of 289.75%. On average, research analysts predict that AnaptysBio will post -6.08 earnings per share for the current year.

About AnaptysBio

AnaptysBio, Inc, a clinical-stage biotechnology company, focuses in delivering immunology therapeutics. Its products include Rosnilimab, an IgG1 antibody that targets PD-1+ T cells, resulting in their agonism or depletion, broadly impacting pathogenic drivers of autoimmune and inflammatory diseases; and ANB032, a non-depleting antibody that binds to the BTLA checkpoint receptor and inhibits activated T cell proliferation; ANB033, a novel anti-CD122 antagonist antibody that targets the shared common beta subunit of the receptors for IL-15 and IL-2; ANB101, a BDCA2 modulator antibody that specifically targets plasmacytoid dendritic cells (pDCs); and Imsidolimab, an antibody that inhibits the interleukin-36 receptor, which is in the Phase 3 development for the treatment of generalized pustular psoriasis.