Arbutus Biopharma Co. (NASDAQ:ABUS) Short Interest Up 10.2% in March

Arbutus Biopharma Co. (NASDAQ:ABUS) saw a significant growth in short interest in the month of March. As of March 31st, there was short interest totalling 4,550,000 shares, a growth of 10.2% from the March 15th total of 4,130,000 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 1,320,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 3.4 days.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have weighed in on ABUS. HC Wainwright reduced their price objective on shares of Arbutus Biopharma from $6.00 to $5.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, March 1st. Chardan Capital restated a “buy” rating and set a $4.00 price objective on shares of Arbutus Biopharma in a research report on Friday, March 1st. Finally, JMP Securities restated a “market outperform” rating and set a $4.00 price objective on shares of Arbutus Biopharma in a research report on Thursday, April 4th.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Arbutus Biopharma

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Bank of New York Mellon Corp increased its position in Arbutus Biopharma by 1.0% during the first quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 422,681 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $1,281,000 after purchasing an additional 4,154 shares during the last quarter. Jane Street Group LLC increased its position in Arbutus Biopharma by 3.2% during the first quarter. Jane Street Group LLC now owns 136,288 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $413,000 after purchasing an additional 4,242 shares during the last quarter. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC increased its position in Arbutus Biopharma by 49.1% during the first quarter. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC now owns 15,000 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $45,000 after purchasing an additional 4,937 shares during the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its position in Arbutus Biopharma by 8.9% during the second quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 64,191 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $173,000 after purchasing an additional 5,265 shares during the last quarter. Finally, American International Group Inc. increased its position in Arbutus Biopharma by 11.7% during the second quarter. American International Group Inc. now owns 50,544 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $137,000 after purchasing an additional 5,312 shares during the last quarter. 43.79% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Arbutus Biopharma Trading Down 4.0 %

Shares of NASDAQ ABUS opened at $2.91 on Monday. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $2.75 and a 200-day simple moving average of $2.32. Arbutus Biopharma has a 52 week low of $1.69 and a 52 week high of $3.29.

Arbutus Biopharma (NASDAQ:ABUS) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, February 29th. The biopharmaceutical company reported ($0.12) EPS for the quarter, meeting analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.12). The business had revenue of $2.15 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.74 million. Arbutus Biopharma had a negative net margin of 401.57% and a negative return on equity of 57.82%. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned ($0.14) earnings per share. Analysts anticipate that Arbutus Biopharma will post -0.39 EPS for the current fiscal year.

About Arbutus Biopharma

Arbutus Biopharma Corporation, a biopharmaceutical company, develops novel therapeutics for chronic Hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection in the United States. Its HBV product pipeline consists of imdusiran (AB-729), a proprietary subcutaneously-delivered RNAi therapeutic product candidate that suppresses all HBV antigens, including HBsAg expression.