FibroGen, Inc. (NASDAQ:FGEN) Sees Large Drop in Short Interest

FibroGen, Inc. (NASDAQ:FGEN) saw a large decline in short interest during the month of March. As of March 31st, there was short interest totalling 5,190,000 shares, a decline of 6.1% from the March 15th total of 5,530,000 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 2,740,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 1.9 days. Currently, 5.7% of the shares of the stock are short sold.

FibroGen Stock Down 3.8 %

Shares of NASDAQ FGEN traded down $0.05 during midday trading on Wednesday, reaching $1.25. The stock had a trading volume of 403,814 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,531,707. FibroGen has a twelve month low of $0.33 and a twelve month high of $20.90. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $2.00 and its 200 day moving average price is $1.19.

FibroGen (NASDAQ:FGEN) last released its earnings results on Monday, February 26th. The biopharmaceutical company reported ($0.57) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.42) by ($0.15). The company had revenue of $27.14 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $40.00 million. Equities analysts forecast that FibroGen will post -1.09 earnings per share for the current year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Separately, William Blair reissued a “market perform” rating on shares of FibroGen in a report on Tuesday, February 27th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating and four have issued a hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $17.00.

Insider Activity at FibroGen

In other FibroGen news, CEO Thane Wettig bought 50,000 shares of FibroGen stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 7th. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $1.91 per share, with a total value of $95,500.00. Following the acquisition, the chief executive officer now directly owns 470,178 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $898,039.98. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. 2.39% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Primecap Management Co. CA lifted its position in shares of FibroGen by 7.7% during the 3rd quarter. Primecap Management Co. CA now owns 14,724,968 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $12,706,000 after acquiring an additional 1,047,380 shares during the period. Armistice Capital LLC raised its holdings in FibroGen by 23.7% during the fourth quarter. Armistice Capital LLC now owns 9,764,000 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $8,654,000 after buying an additional 1,872,000 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in FibroGen by 0.7% during the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 9,740,942 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $126,729,000 after buying an additional 69,075 shares during the last quarter. BlackRock Inc. raised its holdings in FibroGen by 2.5% during the first quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 7,313,630 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $136,472,000 after buying an additional 179,312 shares during the last quarter. Finally, State Street Corp raised its holdings in FibroGen by 23.0% during the second quarter. State Street Corp now owns 5,014,209 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $13,538,000 after buying an additional 938,042 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 72.71% of the company’s stock.

FibroGen Company Profile

FibroGen, Inc, a biopharmaceutical company, discovers, develops, and commercializes therapeutics to treat serious unmet medical needs. Its lead product candidates are Pamrevlumab, a human monoclonal antibody targeting connective tissue growth factor that is in Phase III clinical development for the treatment of locally advanced pancreatic cancer; and Roxadustat, an oral small molecule inhibitor of hypoxia-inducible factor prolyl hydroxylase activity, which has completed Phase III clinical development for the treatment of anemia in chronic kidney disease in China, Europe, Japan, and other countries, as well as in Phase III clinical development for anemia related with myelodysplastic syndromes.