Precision BioSciences, Inc. (NASDAQ:DTIL) Sees Significant Increase in Short Interest

Precision BioSciences, Inc. (NASDAQ:DTIL) was the target of a large increase in short interest in December. As of December 31st, there was short interest totalling 306,700 shares, an increase of 11.7% from the December 15th total of 274,500 shares. Currently, 8.2% of the company’s stock are short sold. Based on an average daily volume of 418,600 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 0.7 days.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Precision BioSciences

An institutional investor recently raised its position in Precision BioSciences stock. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Precision BioSciences, Inc. (NASDAQ:DTIL) by 40.7% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 65,974 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 19,088 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC owned about 0.86% of Precision BioSciences worth $591,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period. Institutional investors own 37.99% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

DTIL has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. HC Wainwright reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $60.00 target price on shares of Precision BioSciences in a report on Friday, January 10th. BMO Capital Markets raised shares of Precision BioSciences from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $34.00 price target for the company in a research report on Friday, January 10th.

Precision BioSciences Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:DTIL traded up $0.24 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $4.96. 183,493 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 183,149. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34, a quick ratio of 9.22 and a current ratio of 9.22. Precision BioSciences has a one year low of $3.61 and a one year high of $19.43. The company has a market cap of $38.04 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 82.68 and a beta of 1.51. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $5.77 and a 200 day moving average of $8.11.

About Precision BioSciences

Precision BioSciences, Inc, an advanced gene editing company, develops in vivo gene editing therapies for gene edits, including gene elimination, insertion, and excision in the United States. The company offers ARCUS, a genome editing platform to DNA genome insertion, deletion, and repair. It also provides PBGENE-HBV for the treatment of chronic hepatitis B virus (HBV) to eliminate covalently closed circular DNA with direct cuts and edits as well as to inactivate integrated HBV DNA with the goal of long-lasting reductions in hepatitis B surface antigen; PBGENE-PMM for the treatment of m.3243 associated primary mitochondrial myopathy (PMM) which is expected to submit an IND and/or CTA.