Jazz Pharmaceuticals plc (NASDAQ:JAZZ) Short Interest Up 15.9% in March

Jazz Pharmaceuticals plc (NASDAQ:JAZZ) was the target of a large growth in short interest during the month of March. As of March 15th, there was short interest totalling 2,770,000 shares, a growth of 15.9% from the February 29th total of 2,390,000 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 637,100 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 4.3 days. Currently, 4.6% of the shares of the company are sold short.

Jazz Pharmaceuticals Trading Down 1.2 %

Shares of JAZZ stock opened at $118.98 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.37, a quick ratio of 1.85 and a current ratio of 2.24. Jazz Pharmaceuticals has a 1 year low of $111.25 and a 1 year high of $147.98. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $122.76 and a two-hundred day moving average of $124.20. The firm has a market capitalization of $7.50 billion, a PE ratio of 19.44, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.66 and a beta of 0.59.

Jazz Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:JAZZ) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 28th. The specialty pharmaceutical company reported $4.40 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.44 by ($0.04). Jazz Pharmaceuticals had a return on equity of 31.27% and a net margin of 10.82%. The business had revenue of $1.01 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.01 billion. As a group, research analysts expect that Jazz Pharmaceuticals will post 16.24 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity

In other news, CAO Patricia Carr sold 1,936 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $119.64, for a total value of $231,623.04. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 8,364 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,000,668.96. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. In other news, CAO Patricia Carr sold 1,936 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $119.64, for a total value of $231,623.04. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 8,364 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,000,668.96. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CFO Philip L. Johnson purchased 12,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 1st. The stock was purchased at an average price of $119.65 per share, with a total value of $1,435,800.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the chief financial officer now directly owns 27,932 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,342,063.80. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Company insiders own 4.40% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Jazz Pharmaceuticals

Several institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Newbridge Financial Services Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Jazz Pharmaceuticals by 254.5% in the fourth quarter. Newbridge Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 468 shares of the specialty pharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $58,000 after buying an additional 336 shares during the period. HighPoint Advisor Group LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Jazz Pharmaceuticals in the fourth quarter valued at $240,000. Virtu Financial LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Jazz Pharmaceuticals by 104.6% in the fourth quarter. Virtu Financial LLC now owns 8,877 shares of the specialty pharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $1,092,000 after buying an additional 4,538 shares during the period. V Square Quantitative Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Jazz Pharmaceuticals by 63.9% in the fourth quarter. V Square Quantitative Management LLC now owns 680 shares of the specialty pharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $84,000 after buying an additional 265 shares during the period. Finally, Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD lifted its holdings in shares of Jazz Pharmaceuticals by 63.6% in the fourth quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 48,344 shares of the specialty pharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $5,948,000 after buying an additional 18,796 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 89.14% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

JAZZ has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on Jazz Pharmaceuticals from $170.00 to $190.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, March 22nd. HC Wainwright lowered their price objective on Jazz Pharmaceuticals from $204.00 to $200.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, March 14th. Truist Financial restated a “buy” rating and set a $200.00 price objective on shares of Jazz Pharmaceuticals in a research note on Wednesday, March 20th. Needham & Company LLC restated a “buy” rating and set a $220.00 price objective on shares of Jazz Pharmaceuticals in a research note on Wednesday, March 20th. Finally, UBS Group lowered their price objective on Jazz Pharmaceuticals from $135.00 to $131.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, March 1st. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eleven have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $195.08.

About Jazz Pharmaceuticals

Jazz Pharmaceuticals plc identifies, develops, and commercializes pharmaceutical products for unmet medical needs in the United States, Europe, and internationally. The company offers Xywav for cataplexy or excessive daytime sleepiness (EDS) with narcolepsy and idiopathic hypersomnia; Xyrem to treat cataplexy or EDS with narcolepsy; Epidiolex for seizures associated with Lennox-Gastaut and Dravet syndromes, or tuberous sclerosis complex; Zepzelca to treat metastatic small cell lung cancer, or with disease progression on or after platinum-based chemotherapy; Rylaze for acute lymphoblastic leukemia or lymphoblastic lymphoma; Enrylaze to treat acute lymphoblastic leukemia and lymphoblastic lymphoma; Defitelio to treat severe hepatic veno-occlusive disease; and Vyxeos for newly-diagnosed therapy-related acute myeloid leukemia.