BioCryst Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:BCRX) Sees Significant Drop in Short Interest

BioCryst Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:BCRX - Get Free Report) was the target of a significant decrease in short interest during the month of December. As of December 31st, there was short interest totalling 15,720,000 shares, a decrease of 9.1% from the December 15th total of 17,290,000 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 2,050,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 7.7 days.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

BCRX has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. Evercore ISI increased their price objective on shares of BioCryst Pharmaceuticals from $10.00 to $12.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Monday, January 13th. Barclays lifted their price target on BioCryst Pharmaceuticals from $7.00 to $8.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a report on Tuesday, November 5th. Needham & Company LLC increased their price objective on BioCryst Pharmaceuticals from $14.00 to $15.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Monday, January 13th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an "outperform" rating and set a $10.00 target price on shares of BioCryst Pharmaceuticals in a research note on Tuesday, November 5th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $15.17.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. boosted its stake in BioCryst Pharmaceuticals by 21.5% in the 3rd quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 7,483 shares of the biotechnology company's stock worth $57,000 after purchasing an additional 1,322 shares during the period. Xponance Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of BioCryst Pharmaceuticals by 13.1% in the second quarter. Xponance Inc. now owns 12,980 shares of the biotechnology company's stock valued at $80,000 after purchasing an additional 1,505 shares in the last quarter. Captrust Financial Advisors grew its holdings in shares of BioCryst Pharmaceuticals by 19.4% during the third quarter. Captrust Financial Advisors now owns 16,274 shares of the biotechnology company's stock valued at $124,000 after buying an additional 2,644 shares in the last quarter. Creative Planning raised its position in BioCryst Pharmaceuticals by 5.9% during the third quarter. Creative Planning now owns 49,347 shares of the biotechnology company's stock valued at $375,000 after buying an additional 2,734 shares during the period. Finally, SkyView Investment Advisors LLC lifted its stake in BioCryst Pharmaceuticals by 30.0% in the 3rd quarter. SkyView Investment Advisors LLC now owns 13,000 shares of the biotechnology company's stock worth $99,000 after acquiring an additional 3,000 shares in the last quarter. 85.88% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

BioCryst Pharmaceuticals Price Performance

Shares of BCRX traded up $0.39 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $7.45. 3,962,956 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,628,471. The company has a market capitalization of $1.54 billion, a PE ratio of -12.21 and a beta of 1.76. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $7.57 and a 200-day simple moving average of $7.62. BioCryst Pharmaceuticals has a one year low of $4.03 and a one year high of $8.88.

BioCryst Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:BCRX - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Monday, November 4th. The biotechnology company reported ($0.07) earnings per share for the quarter, meeting analysts' consensus estimates of ($0.07). The company had revenue of $117.10 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $113.99 million. The company's revenue for the quarter was up 35.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business earned ($0.19) EPS. Sell-side analysts expect that BioCryst Pharmaceuticals will post -0.38 EPS for the current year.

About BioCryst Pharmaceuticals

BioCryst Pharmaceuticals, Inc, a biotechnology company, develops oral small-molecule and protein therapeutics to treat rare diseases. The company markets peramivir injection, an intravenous neuraminidase inhibitor for the treatment of acute uncomplicated influenza under the RAPIVAB, RAPIACTA, and PERAMIFLU names; and ORLADEYO, an oral serine protease inhibitor to treat hereditary angioedema.