Short Interest in Centessa Pharmaceuticals plc (NASDAQ:CNTA) Increases By 7.0%

Centessa Pharmaceuticals plc (NASDAQ:CNTA - Get Free Report) was the recipient of a significant increase in short interest in October. As of October 31st, there was short interest totalling 2,150,000 shares, an increase of 7.0% from the October 15th total of 2,010,000 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 604,100 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 3.6 days. Currently, 2.7% of the company's stock are short sold.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

CNTA has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. BMO Capital Markets lifted their price objective on shares of Centessa Pharmaceuticals from $20.00 to $35.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Monday, September 16th. Morgan Stanley raised Centessa Pharmaceuticals from an "equal weight" rating to an "overweight" rating and increased their price target for the company from $11.00 to $26.00 in a research report on Thursday, September 19th. Oppenheimer reissued an "outperform" rating and set a $14.00 target price on shares of Centessa Pharmaceuticals in a research report on Wednesday, August 14th. Guggenheim lifted their price target on shares of Centessa Pharmaceuticals from $24.00 to $28.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Friday. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group upped their price objective on Centessa Pharmaceuticals from $13.00 to $19.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Wednesday, September 11th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating, Based on data from MarketBeat, Centessa Pharmaceuticals presently has a consensus rating of "Buy" and a consensus target price of $25.83.

Centessa Pharmaceuticals Stock Performance

CNTA traded down $1.50 on Friday, hitting $16.00. The company's stock had a trading volume of 730,650 shares, compared to its average volume of 448,872. The company's 50 day simple moving average is $15.90 and its 200-day simple moving average is $12.16. The company has a quick ratio of 13.29, a current ratio of 21.52 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15. Centessa Pharmaceuticals has a 12 month low of $5.58 and a 12 month high of $18.74. The firm has a market cap of $1.81 billion, a P/E ratio of -10.46 and a beta of 1.47.

Centessa Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:CNTA - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, November 12th. The company reported ($0.37) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of ($0.42) by $0.05. Analysts forecast that Centessa Pharmaceuticals will post -1.62 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Saurabh Saha sold 175,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, September 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $16.52, for a total transaction of $2,891,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 776,924 shares of the company's stock, valued at $12,834,784.48. The trade was a 18.38 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, insider Gregory M. Weinhoff sold 12,198 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, August 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $12.17, for a total transaction of $148,449.66. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 241,171 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,935,051.07. The trade was a 4.81 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 325,031 shares of company stock worth $5,213,043 over the last quarter. 11.59% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Centessa Pharmaceuticals

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. lifted its stake in Centessa Pharmaceuticals by 47.7% during the third quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 2,556 shares of the company's stock worth $40,000 after purchasing an additional 826 shares during the last quarter. Atria Investments Inc lifted its position in Centessa Pharmaceuticals by 7.0% in the 3rd quarter. Atria Investments Inc now owns 17,134 shares of the company's stock worth $274,000 after buying an additional 1,116 shares during the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its position in Centessa Pharmaceuticals by 103.1% in the 3rd quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 2,972 shares of the company's stock worth $48,000 after buying an additional 1,509 shares during the last quarter. Quarry LP grew its position in Centessa Pharmaceuticals by 47.8% during the second quarter. Quarry LP now owns 9,608 shares of the company's stock valued at $87,000 after acquiring an additional 3,108 shares during the last quarter. Finally, China Universal Asset Management Co. Ltd. raised its position in Centessa Pharmaceuticals by 99.7% in the 3rd quarter. China Universal Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 13,593 shares of the company's stock worth $217,000 after purchasing an additional 6,785 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 82.01% of the company's stock.

About Centessa Pharmaceuticals

Centessa Pharmaceuticals plc, a clinical-stage pharmaceutical company, discovers, develops, and delivers medicines for patients. Its products pipeline includes SerpinPC, an activated protein C inhibitor for the treatment of hemophilia A and B; and ORX750, an orally administered OX2R agonist for the treatment of narcolepsy and other sleep disorders.

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