89bio, Inc. (NASDAQ:ETNB) Sees Significant Growth in Short Interest

89bio, Inc. (NASDAQ:ETNB - Get Free Report) was the target of a significant growth in short interest in the month of March. As of March 31st, there was short interest totalling 15,230,000 shares, a growth of 38.3% from the March 15th total of 11,010,000 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 2,540,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 6.0 days. Approximately 14.8% of the company's stock are short sold.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other 89bio news, insider Quoc Le-Nguyen sold 15,329 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, April 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $5.95, for a total value of $91,207.55. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 328,323 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,953,521.85. This represents a 4.46 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Director Ra Capital Management, L.P. bought 5,714,285 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Thursday, January 30th. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $8.75 per share, for a total transaction of $49,999,993.75. Following the transaction, the director now owns 19,554,319 shares in the company, valued at approximately $171,100,291.25. This represents a 41.29 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Corporate insiders own 2.80% of the company's stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On 89bio

A number of large investors have recently modified their holdings of ETNB. Avoro Capital Advisors LLC bought a new position in 89bio in the 4th quarter valued at $32,062,000. Deep Track Capital LP raised its position in 89bio by 134.2% during the fourth quarter. Deep Track Capital LP now owns 6,478,249 shares of the company's stock valued at $50,660,000 after purchasing an additional 3,711,737 shares in the last quarter. Suvretta Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of 89bio by 27.7% in the 4th quarter. Suvretta Capital Management LLC now owns 10,202,696 shares of the company's stock valued at $79,785,000 after purchasing an additional 2,211,052 shares in the last quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC lifted its stake in shares of 89bio by 8.9% in the 4th quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 16,514,056 shares of the company's stock valued at $129,177,000 after acquiring an additional 1,355,838 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Balyasny Asset Management L.P. bought a new position in shares of 89bio in the fourth quarter worth approximately $7,972,000.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts have weighed in on the company. Cantor Fitzgerald reissued an "overweight" rating and issued a $29.00 price objective on shares of 89bio in a research report on Thursday, January 2nd. HC Wainwright reissued a "buy" rating and issued a $21.00 price target (down from $29.00) on shares of 89bio in a report on Friday, February 28th. UBS Group raised their price objective on shares of 89bio from $25.00 to $38.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Friday, January 31st. The Goldman Sachs Group assumed coverage on shares of 89bio in a research note on Friday, March 14th. They issued a "neutral" rating and a $11.00 target price on the stock. Finally, Wolfe Research initiated coverage on shares of 89bio in a report on Tuesday, February 4th. They issued an "outperform" rating on the stock. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, six have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $27.25.

89bio Stock Performance

89bio stock traded up $0.20 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, reaching $6.75. The company's stock had a trading volume of 501,276 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,311,791. The firm's fifty day moving average price is $7.87 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $8.18. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.09, a quick ratio of 11.66 and a current ratio of 11.66. 89bio has a 12-month low of $4.16 and a 12-month high of $11.84. The company has a market capitalization of $985.39 million, a P/E ratio of -2.32 and a beta of 1.25.

89bio (NASDAQ:ETNB - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, March 6th. The company reported ($1.02) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of ($0.60) by ($0.42). Sell-side analysts predict that 89bio will post -3.19 EPS for the current fiscal year.

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.