KalVista Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:KALV) Short Interest Down 43.2% in May

KalVista Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:KALV) saw a large decrease in short interest in the month of May. As of May 29th, there was short interest totaling 6,842,479 shares, a decrease of 43.2% from the May 14th total of 12,052,446 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 3,481,348 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 2.0 days. Approximately 13.4% of the company’s shares are sold short.

KalVista Pharmaceuticals Price Performance

KALV remained flat at $27.00 during trading on Monday. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.44 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -7.80 and a beta of -0.12. KalVista Pharmaceuticals has a 52 week low of $9.83 and a 52 week high of $27.00. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 8.18, a current ratio of 5.17 and a quick ratio of 5.10. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $24.30 and its 200-day simple moving average is $18.93.

KalVista Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:KALV) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 14th. The specialty pharmaceutical company reported ($0.43) EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($0.38) by ($0.05). The company had revenue of $40.86 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $39.03 million. As a group, research analysts forecast that KalVista Pharmaceuticals will post -1.19 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts have recently issued reports on KALV shares. Citizens Jmp downgraded shares of KalVista Pharmaceuticals from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 29th. HC Wainwright downgraded shares of KalVista Pharmaceuticals from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and dropped their price objective for the company from $37.00 to $27.00 in a research note on Friday, May 1st. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of KalVista Pharmaceuticals in a research note on Tuesday, April 21st. Leerink Partners downgraded shares of KalVista Pharmaceuticals from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 29th. Finally, Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of KalVista Pharmaceuticals to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, five have issued a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $30.60.

Insider Activity

In other KalVista Pharmaceuticals news, insider Paul K. Audhya sold 2,239 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, May 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $26.78, for a total value of $59,960.42. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 150,260 shares in the company, valued at $4,023,962.80. This represents a 1.47% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards. Also, insider Nicole Sweeny sold 1,489 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, May 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $26.78, for a total transaction of $39,875.42. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 59,291 shares in the company, valued at $1,587,812.98. This represents a 2.45% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 254,602 shares of company stock valued at $4,656,670. Company insiders own 4.30% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On KalVista Pharmaceuticals

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Seven Fleet Capital Management LP raised its stake in KalVista Pharmaceuticals by 165.4% in the 1st quarter. Seven Fleet Capital Management LP now owns 128,487 shares of the specialty pharmaceutical company’s stock worth $2,586,000 after acquiring an additional 80,075 shares during the last quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC raised its stake in KalVista Pharmaceuticals by 45.8% in the 1st quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC now owns 1,876 shares of the specialty pharmaceutical company’s stock worth $38,000 after acquiring an additional 589 shares during the last quarter. Optiver Holding B.V. raised its holdings in shares of KalVista Pharmaceuticals by 2,981.2% during the first quarter. Optiver Holding B.V. now owns 4,591 shares of the specialty pharmaceutical company’s stock worth $92,000 after purchasing an additional 4,442 shares during the last quarter. Bank of America Corp DE raised its holdings in shares of KalVista Pharmaceuticals by 42.5% during the first quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 555,628 shares of the specialty pharmaceutical company’s stock worth $11,185,000 after purchasing an additional 165,815 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada raised its holdings in shares of KalVista Pharmaceuticals by 137.0% during the first quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 2,917 shares of the specialty pharmaceutical company’s stock worth $59,000 after purchasing an additional 1,686 shares during the last quarter.

KalVista Pharmaceuticals Company Profile

KalVista Pharmaceuticals is a clinical‐stage biotechnology company focused on the discovery and development of small‐molecule protease inhibitors for orphan and specialty disease indications. The firm’s scientific platform centers on selective inhibition of plasma kallikrein, a serine protease implicated in disorders characterized by vascular leak, edema and inflammation. KalVista’s approach leverages oral and intravitreal delivery formats to target both systemic and ophthalmic conditions.

The company’s lead programs include an oral plasma kallikrein inhibitor in clinical trials for the acute treatment of hereditary angioedema (HAE) attacks and an intravitreal kallikrein inhibitor being evaluated for diabetic macular edema.