Short Interest in Enanta Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:ENTA) Increases By 16.7%

Enanta Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:ENTA) saw a large increase in short interest in the month of August. As of August 31st, there was short interest totalling 1,680,000 shares, an increase of 16.7% from the August 15th total of 1,440,000 shares. Approximately 8.6% of the company’s stock are sold short. Based on an average daily volume of 278,600 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 6.0 days.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages have recently issued reports on ENTA. HC Wainwright reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $48.00 price objective on shares of Enanta Pharmaceuticals in a research note on Tuesday. Jefferies Financial Group cut shares of Enanta Pharmaceuticals from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and lowered their price target for the stock from $49.00 to $18.00 in a report on Tuesday, August 8th. StockNews.com raised shares of Enanta Pharmaceuticals from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, September 11th. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed a “sector perform” rating and set a $25.00 price objective on shares of Enanta Pharmaceuticals in a research report on Tuesday, August 8th. Finally, JMP Securities dropped their target price on Enanta Pharmaceuticals from $65.00 to $42.00 and set a “market outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, August 8th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $38.50.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Braidwell LP boosted its holdings in shares of Enanta Pharmaceuticals by 218.7% in the first quarter. Braidwell LP now owns 1,038,310 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $41,989,000 after acquiring an additional 712,472 shares during the period. Krensavage Asset Management LLC purchased a new position in Enanta Pharmaceuticals during the 1st quarter worth $24,397,000. State Street Corp increased its stake in Enanta Pharmaceuticals by 29.9% in the second quarter. State Street Corp now owns 1,699,428 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $80,332,000 after purchasing an additional 390,842 shares during the period. Norges Bank acquired a new position in Enanta Pharmaceuticals in the fourth quarter valued at $10,533,000. Finally, Pictet Asset Management SA raised its holdings in shares of Enanta Pharmaceuticals by 271.4% in the first quarter. Pictet Asset Management SA now owns 270,853 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $10,953,000 after buying an additional 197,916 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 94.99% of the company’s stock.

Enanta Pharmaceuticals Price Performance

NASDAQ ENTA opened at $12.63 on Tuesday. Enanta Pharmaceuticals has a 12 month low of $11.56 and a 12 month high of $62.06. The company has a market capitalization of $265.99 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -2.00 and a beta of 0.41. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $16.43 and its 200 day moving average price is $26.51.

Enanta Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:ENTA) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Monday, August 7th. The biotechnology company reported ($1.86) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of ($2.38) by $0.52. Enanta Pharmaceuticals had a negative return on equity of 46.77% and a negative net margin of 163.87%. The company had revenue of $18.89 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $15.88 million. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Enanta Pharmaceuticals will post -7.24 earnings per share for the current year.

Enanta Pharmaceuticals Company Profile

Enanta Pharmaceuticals, Inc, a biotechnology company, discovers and develops small molecule drugs for the treatment of viral infections and liver diseases. Its research and development disease targets include respiratory syncytial virus, SARS-CoV-2, human metapneumovirus, and hepatitis B virus. The company has a collaborative development and license agreement with Abbott Laboratories to identify, develop, and commercialize HCV NS3 and NS3/4A protease inhibitor compounds, including paritaprevir and glecaprevir for the treatment of chronic hepatitis C virus.