89bio, Inc. (NASDAQ:ETNB) Short Interest Up 12.2% in January

89bio, Inc. (NASDAQ:ETNB - Get Free Report) was the target of a large growth in short interest in the month of January. As of January 15th, there was short interest totalling 7,790,000 shares, a growth of 12.2% from the December 31st total of 6,940,000 shares. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 943,200 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 8.3 days.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have weighed in on the stock. Raymond James raised shares of 89bio to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. UBS Group upped their price objective on 89bio from $25.00 to $38.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Friday, January 31st. Cantor Fitzgerald reissued an "overweight" rating and issued a $29.00 target price on shares of 89bio in a research note on Thursday, January 2nd. Weiss Ratings restated a "sell (d-)" rating on shares of 89bio in a research report on Saturday, February 1st. Finally, HC Wainwright reiterated a "buy" rating and issued a $29.00 price target on shares of 89bio in a report on Tuesday, January 21st. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, six have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $31.43.

89bio Trading Down 0.2 %

NASDAQ:ETNB traded down $0.02 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $11.41. The company had a trading volume of 1,401,785 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,248,979. The firm has a market cap of $1.21 billion, a P/E ratio of -3.92 and a beta of 1.17. 89bio has a fifty-two week low of $5.99 and a fifty-two week high of $16.63. The business's fifty day moving average is $7.98 and its two-hundred day moving average is $8.26. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.09, a quick ratio of 11.66 and a current ratio of 11.66.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Director Ra Capital Management, L.P. acquired 5,714,285 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Thursday, January 30th. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $8.75 per share, with a total value of $49,999,993.75. Following the completion of the purchase, the director now owns 19,554,319 shares of the company's stock, valued at $171,100,291.25. This represents a 41.29 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO Rohan Palekar bought 10,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 22nd. The stock was purchased at an average price of $8.35 per share, with a total value of $83,500.00. Following the purchase, the chief executive officer now directly owns 466,236 shares of the company's stock, valued at $3,893,070.60. The trade was a 2.19 % increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Insiders purchased 5,744,285 shares of company stock worth $50,235,694 in the last 90 days. 2.80% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of ETNB. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised its holdings in 89bio by 77.4% in the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 99,467 shares of the company's stock worth $736,000 after purchasing an additional 43,384 shares during the period. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. bought a new position in 89bio during the fourth quarter worth about $1,897,000. Barclays PLC lifted its holdings in 89bio by 228.9% during the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 214,768 shares of the company's stock worth $1,590,000 after acquiring an additional 149,479 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of 89bio by 8.4% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 2,074,970 shares of the company's stock worth $15,358,000 after acquiring an additional 160,356 shares in the last quarter. Finally, FMR LLC raised its position in shares of 89bio by 2,153.2% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 73,386 shares of the company's stock worth $543,000 after purchasing an additional 70,129 shares during the period.

About 89bio

89bio, Inc, a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company, focuses on the development and commercialization of therapies for the treatment of liver and cardio-metabolic diseases. Its lead product candidate is pegozafermin, a glycoPEGylated analog of fibroblast growth factor 21 for the treatment of nonalcoholic steatohepatitis; and for the treatment of severe hypertriglyceridemia.