Assertio Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:ASRT) Sees Significant Decrease in Short Interest

Assertio Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:ASRT - Get Free Report) was the target of a significant decline in short interest during the month of December. As of December 31st, there was short interest totalling 5,910,000 shares, a decline of 6.5% from the December 15th total of 6,320,000 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 764,400 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 7.7 days.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Assertio news, Director Heather L. Mason bought 75,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 18th. The stock was bought at an average price of $0.80 per share, for a total transaction of $60,000.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director now directly owns 287,650 shares in the company, valued at $230,120. The trade was a 35.27 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. 3.20% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Assertio

Several large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Renaissance Technologies LLC boosted its holdings in Assertio by 13.7% in the 2nd quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 2,377,614 shares of the company's stock worth $2,948,000 after buying an additional 285,655 shares during the period. XTX Topco Ltd purchased a new stake in Assertio during the third quarter valued at approximately $203,000. GSA Capital Partners LLP bought a new stake in shares of Assertio in the 3rd quarter worth about $177,000. Point72 Asia Singapore Pte. Ltd. purchased a new position in shares of Assertio during the second quarter valued at approximately $149,000. Finally, Marshall Wace LLP purchased a new stake in Assertio in the second quarter worth $70,000. 48.96% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have recently commented on ASRT. StockNews.com raised Assertio from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 13th. HC Wainwright reissued a "buy" rating and issued a $4.00 target price on shares of Assertio in a report on Monday, December 16th.

Assertio Stock Up 2.8 %

ASRT stock traded up $0.02 on Friday, hitting $0.83. The company had a trading volume of 434,499 shares, compared to its average volume of 617,435. The company has a current ratio of 2.01, a quick ratio of 1.57 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.30. The stock's 50-day simple moving average is $0.90 and its 200 day simple moving average is $1.13. Assertio has a 12-month low of $0.73 and a 12-month high of $1.80.

Assertio (NASDAQ:ASRT - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Monday, November 11th. The company reported ($0.03) EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of ($0.05) by $0.02. The company had revenue of $29.20 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $29.29 million. Assertio had a positive return on equity of 3.79% and a negative net margin of 54.46%. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted ($0.01) earnings per share. On average, research analysts expect that Assertio will post -0.15 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Assertio Company Profile

Assertio Holdings, Inc, a commercial pharmaceutical company, provides various products to patients in the United States. Its pharmaceutical products include INDOCIN, an oral and suppository solution for the treatment of moderate to severe rheumatoid arthritis, including acute flares of chronic disease; ankylosing spondylitis and osteoarthritis; and acute painful shoulder and gouty arthritis.