BioCryst Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:BCRX) Short Interest Update

BioCryst Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:BCRX) was the recipient of a large decline in short interest in the month of July. As of July 15th, there was short interest totaling 31,208,457 shares, a decline of 35.9% from the June 30th total of 48,685,241 shares. Approximately 12.8% of the company’s shares are short sold. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 5,245,936 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 5.9 days.

BioCryst Pharmaceuticals Stock Performance

Shares of BioCryst Pharmaceuticals stock traded down $0.22 on Friday, hitting $9.02. The company had a trading volume of 707,665 shares, compared to its average volume of 5,013,729. BioCryst Pharmaceuticals has a 1 year low of $6.00 and a 1 year high of $11.22. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $9.28 and a 200-day moving average of $8.63. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.29 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -5.07 and a beta of 0.55.

BioCryst Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:BCRX) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, May 6th. The biotechnology company reported ($2.98) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.06 by ($3.04). The company had revenue of $156.41 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $151.12 million. BioCryst Pharmaceuticals had a negative net margin of 51.71% and a negative return on equity of 76.36%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 7.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.20 EPS. Equities analysts anticipate that BioCryst Pharmaceuticals will post -2.58 earnings per share for the current year.

Institutional Trading of BioCryst Pharmaceuticals

Several institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Phocas Financial Corp. bought a new stake in BioCryst Pharmaceuticals in the 4th quarter worth about $1,956,000. Aberdeen Group plc purchased a new position in shares of BioCryst Pharmaceuticals in the 4th quarter worth approximately $7,126,000. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of BioCryst Pharmaceuticals by 2.2% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 22,273,375 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $173,732,000 after buying an additional 482,494 shares during the last quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets grew its holdings in shares of BioCryst Pharmaceuticals by 21.4% in the fourth quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 2,542,714 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $19,833,000 after acquiring an additional 448,436 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Rice Hall James & Associates LLC grew its holdings in shares of BioCryst Pharmaceuticals by 17.1% in the first quarter. Rice Hall James & Associates LLC now owns 2,230,105 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $21,231,000 after acquiring an additional 325,959 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 85.88% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms recently issued reports on BCRX. HC Wainwright reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $32.00 target price on shares of BioCryst Pharmaceuticals in a research report on Tuesday, June 30th. Needham & Company LLC decreased their target price on BioCryst Pharmaceuticals from $18.00 to $16.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, May 6th. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of BioCryst Pharmaceuticals in a report on Monday, June 1st. Citizens Jmp boosted their price objective on BioCryst Pharmaceuticals from $25.00 to $28.00 and gave the company a “market outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, May 7th. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada increased their target price on BioCryst Pharmaceuticals from $13.00 to $14.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 7th. Eight analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and four have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $20.80.

About BioCryst Pharmaceuticals

BioCryst Pharmaceuticals, Inc is a clinical‐stage biotechnology company headquartered in Durham, North Carolina, that focuses on the discovery and development of novel, oral small‐molecule medicines for rare and serious diseases. Since its founding in 1986, the company has leveraged structure‐based drug design to advance a pipeline of targeted therapeutics designed to address underlying disease mechanisms rather than just treat symptoms.

The company’s first commercial product, Orladeyo (berotralstat), is an oral kallikrein inhibitor approved for the prophylactic treatment of hereditary angioedema (HAE) in both the United States and Europe.