Precision BioSciences, Inc. (NASDAQ:DTIL) Sees Large Increase in Short Interest

Precision BioSciences, Inc. (NASDAQ:DTIL) was the target of a significant growth in short interest during the month of March. As of March 31st, there was short interest totalling 288,900 shares, a growth of 62.3% from the March 15th total of 178,000 shares. Currently, 8.0% of the shares of the stock are short sold. Based on an average daily volume of 139,500 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 2.1 days.

Precision BioSciences Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ DTIL opened at $14.12 on Friday. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $12.96 and its 200 day simple moving average is $11.71. Precision BioSciences has a fifty-two week low of $8.25 and a fifty-two week high of $28.44. The firm has a market capitalization of $97.71 million, a P/E ratio of -0.88 and a beta of 1.53.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Michael Amoroso sold 4,579 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, January 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $10.80, for a total transaction of $49,453.20. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 11,881 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $128,314.80. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Insiders have sold 6,005 shares of company stock valued at $64,854 over the last three months. 5.10% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Precision BioSciences

Several large investors have recently bought and sold shares of DTIL. Swiss National Bank lifted its holdings in Precision BioSciences by 9.5% in the first quarter. Swiss National Bank now owns 114,900 shares of the company’s stock valued at $354,000 after buying an additional 10,000 shares during the period. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised its holdings in Precision BioSciences by 22.2% in the first quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 906,366 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,792,000 after purchasing an additional 164,816 shares during the period. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. acquired a new stake in Precision BioSciences in the first quarter worth $48,000. HighTower Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Precision BioSciences in the first quarter worth $47,000. Finally, BlackRock Inc. raised its holdings in Precision BioSciences by 4.0% in the first quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 4,566,690 shares of the company’s stock worth $14,067,000 after purchasing an additional 175,176 shares during the period. 37.99% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Separately, HC Wainwright increased their price target on shares of Precision BioSciences to $60.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 28th.

About Precision BioSciences

Precision BioSciences, Inc, a clinical stage gene editing company, develops ex vivo allogeneic chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T immunotherapies and in vivo therapies for genetic and infectious diseases in the United States. The company offers ARCUS, a genome editing platform to cure genetic disorders.