Virios Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VIRI) Short Interest Up 76.9% in March

Virios Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VIRI) was the recipient of a large increase in short interest during the month of March. As of March 15th, there was short interest totalling 170,200 shares, an increase of 76.9% from the February 29th total of 96,200 shares. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 370,900 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 0.5 days.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Virios Therapeutics

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of VIRI. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in Virios Therapeutics by 63.4% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 241,666 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,082,000 after purchasing an additional 93,800 shares in the last quarter. UBS Group AG lifted its position in Virios Therapeutics by 528.3% during the first quarter. UBS Group AG now owns 14,137 shares of the company’s stock valued at $63,000 after purchasing an additional 11,887 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp purchased a new position in Virios Therapeutics during the second quarter valued at $45,000. Renaissance Technologies LLC purchased a new position in Virios Therapeutics during the third quarter valued at $67,000. Finally, Envestnet Asset Management Inc. lifted its position in Virios Therapeutics by 576.3% during the fourth quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 109,196 shares of the company’s stock valued at $26,000 after purchasing an additional 93,050 shares in the last quarter. 9.05% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Virios Therapeutics Price Performance

VIRI stock opened at $0.48 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $9.23 million, a P/E ratio of -1.71 and a beta of 1.82. Virios Therapeutics has a 1 year low of $0.28 and a 1 year high of $2.42. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $0.39 and its 200-day moving average price is $0.61.

Virios Therapeutics (NASDAQ:VIRI) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 29th. The company reported ($0.06) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.09) by $0.03. As a group, analysts expect that Virios Therapeutics will post -0.27 earnings per share for the current year.

About Virios Therapeutics

Virios Therapeutics, Inc, a development-stage biotechnology company, focuses on developing novel antiviral therapies to treat diseases associated with a viral triggered abnormal immune response. The company's lead development candidate is the IMC-1, a fixed dose combination of famciclovir and celecoxib to treat fibromyalgia.