Short Interest in AVITA Medical, Inc. (NASDAQ:RCEL) Grows By 25.9%

AVITA Medical, Inc. (NASDAQ:RCEL) saw a large growth in short interest in December. As of December 31st, there was short interest totalling 1,460,000 shares, a growth of 25.9% from the December 15th total of 1,160,000 shares. Currently, 5.9% of the company’s stock are sold short. Based on an average trading volume of 132,500 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 11.0 days.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in RCEL. Essex Investment Management Co. LLC bought a new stake in AVITA Medical during the third quarter worth $2,477,000. Jane Street Group LLC raised its stake in AVITA Medical by 32.7% during the third quarter. Jane Street Group LLC now owns 89,395 shares of the company’s stock worth $958,000 after acquiring an additional 22,032 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of AVITA Medical by 1.4% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 594,436 shares of the company’s stock worth $6,373,000 after acquiring an additional 8,361 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp boosted its stake in shares of AVITA Medical by 2.4% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 519,997 shares of the company’s stock valued at $5,574,000 after purchasing an additional 11,997 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Barclays PLC grew its holdings in shares of AVITA Medical by 340.0% during the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 37,503 shares of the company’s stock valued at $402,000 after purchasing an additional 28,979 shares during the last quarter. 27.66% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on RCEL. Piper Sandler reiterated a “neutral” rating and set a $12.00 price objective (up previously from $9.00) on shares of AVITA Medical in a research note on Friday, November 8th. Cantor Fitzgerald reissued an “overweight” rating and issued a $21.00 price objective on shares of AVITA Medical in a research report on Tuesday, December 24th. Lake Street Capital reduced their target price on shares of AVITA Medical from $20.00 to $14.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, January 8th. Finally, D. Boral Capital reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $25.00 price target on shares of AVITA Medical in a report on Wednesday, January 8th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, AVITA Medical currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $18.00.

AVITA Medical Price Performance

Shares of RCEL stock traded up $0.11 during trading on Friday, hitting $8.65. The company had a trading volume of 178,976 shares, compared to its average volume of 181,736. The firm has a market capitalization of $226.80 million, a P/E ratio of -3.88 and a beta of 1.58. AVITA Medical has a one year low of $7.51 and a one year high of $18.93. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.48, a quick ratio of 3.37 and a current ratio of 3.73. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $12.18 and its 200 day moving average price is $10.64.

AVITA Medical (NASDAQ:RCEL) last released its earnings results on Thursday, November 7th. The company reported ($0.62) earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.41) by ($0.21). AVITA Medical had a negative net margin of 95.47% and a negative return on equity of 194.69%. The company had revenue of $19.55 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $19.65 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted ($0.34) earnings per share. Equities analysts expect that AVITA Medical will post -2.35 EPS for the current fiscal year.

About AVITA Medical

AVITA Medical, Inc, together with its subsidiaries, operates as a regenerative medicine company in the United States and internationally. The company's lead product is the RECELL System, a cell harvesting device used for the treatment of thermal burn wounds, full-thickness skin defects, and repigmentation of stable depigmented vitiligo lesions.