PepGen Inc. (NASDAQ:PEPG) Short Interest Up 16.2% in August

PepGen Inc. (NASDAQ:PEPG) was the target of a significant increase in short interest during the month of August. As of August 31st, there was short interest totalling 939,900 shares, an increase of 16.2% from the August 15th total of 808,900 shares. Currently, 3.7% of the company’s shares are sold short. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 169,700 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 5.5 days.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, insider Michelle L. Mellion sold 5,901 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, July 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $18.00, for a total transaction of $106,218.00. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Insiders sold a total of 38,682 shares of company stock valued at $701,149 over the last ninety days. Insiders own 4.60% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in PEPG. Acadian Asset Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of PepGen in the first quarter valued at approximately $30,000. Point72 DIFC Ltd acquired a new position in shares of PepGen in the second quarter valued at approximately $42,000. Renaissance Technologies LLC acquired a new position in shares of PepGen in the second quarter valued at approximately $192,000. Marshall Wace LLP acquired a new position in shares of PepGen in the second quarter valued at approximately $196,000. Finally, Rhumbline Advisers boosted its holdings in shares of PepGen by 36.1% in the second quarter. Rhumbline Advisers now owns 18,853 shares of the company’s stock valued at $301,000 after buying an additional 5,002 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 58.01% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

PEPG has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. HC Wainwright reissued a “buy” rating and set a $26.00 price target on shares of PepGen in a research note on Thursday, August 1st. Bank of America downgraded shares of PepGen from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $12.00 target price for the company. in a research note on Wednesday, July 31st. Finally, Wedbush reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $20.00 target price on shares of PepGen in a research note on Wednesday, July 31st.

PepGen Stock Performance

NASDAQ:PEPG traded down $0.36 during trading hours on Monday, hitting $9.12. The stock had a trading volume of 61,290 shares, compared to its average volume of 126,875. PepGen has a one year low of $3.72 and a one year high of $19.30. The company has a market cap of $297.22 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -2.81 and a beta of 1.70. The business’s 50 day moving average is $11.86 and its 200-day moving average is $13.63.

PepGen (NASDAQ:PEPG) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, August 8th. The company reported ($0.87) EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($0.72) by ($0.15). On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that PepGen will post -3.16 EPS for the current fiscal year.

About PepGen

PepGen Inc, a clinical-stage biotechnology company, focuses on the development of oligonucleotide therapeutics for use in the treatment of severe neuromuscular and neurologic diseases. Its lead product candidate is PGN-EDO51, an EDO peptide that is in Phase 2 clinical trial to treat Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD) patients.