Short Interest in Deciphera Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:DCPH) Grows By 7.3%

Deciphera Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:DCPH) was the target of a significant increase in short interest in the month of March. As of March 31st, there was short interest totalling 6,060,000 shares, an increase of 7.3% from the March 15th total of 5,650,000 shares. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 540,200 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 11.2 days. Currently, 12.3% of the shares of the stock are short sold.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of large investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Legal & General Group Plc lifted its stake in shares of Deciphera Pharmaceuticals by 4.2% in the 4th quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 18,891 shares of the company’s stock valued at $310,000 after acquiring an additional 754 shares during the last quarter. Dana Investment Advisors Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Deciphera Pharmaceuticals by 2.5% in the 2nd quarter. Dana Investment Advisors Inc. now owns 35,316 shares of the company’s stock valued at $497,000 after acquiring an additional 870 shares during the last quarter. China Universal Asset Management Co. Ltd. increased its holdings in Deciphera Pharmaceuticals by 96.9% in the third quarter. China Universal Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 2,026 shares of the company’s stock valued at $26,000 after purchasing an additional 997 shares during the period. FMR LLC increased its holdings in Deciphera Pharmaceuticals by 1.3% in the second quarter. FMR LLC now owns 87,638 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,152,000 after purchasing an additional 1,102 shares during the period. Finally, Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. increased its holdings in Deciphera Pharmaceuticals by 2.8% in the fourth quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 41,527 shares of the company’s stock valued at $670,000 after purchasing an additional 1,117 shares during the period. 70.96% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages recently issued reports on DCPH. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price target on Deciphera Pharmaceuticals from $22.00 to $23.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 7th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on Deciphera Pharmaceuticals from $14.00 to $16.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 20th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $23.00.

Deciphera Pharmaceuticals Trading Down 0.8 %

NASDAQ DCPH traded down $0.12 on Wednesday, hitting $14.72. 304,846 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 522,274. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $15.68 and a 200-day moving average of $14.19. Deciphera Pharmaceuticals has a 52 week low of $9.90 and a 52 week high of $17.73. The stock has a market cap of $1.19 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -6.43 and a beta of 0.39.

Deciphera Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:DCPH) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 6th. The company reported ($0.54) EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.58) by $0.04. Deciphera Pharmaceuticals had a negative return on equity of 49.44% and a negative net margin of 119.33%. The company had revenue of $48.30 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $45.93 million. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned ($0.60) EPS. Deciphera Pharmaceuticals’s revenue was up 32.9% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts predict that Deciphera Pharmaceuticals will post -2.16 earnings per share for the current year.

Deciphera Pharmaceuticals Company Profile

Deciphera Pharmaceuticals, Inc, a biopharmaceutical company, develops drugs to enhance the lives of cancer patients by addressing key mechanisms of drug resistance that limit the rate and durability of response to existing cancer therapies in the United States and internationally. Its lead drug candidate is QINLOCK used for the treatment of gastrointestinal stromal tumors (GIST), as well as in INTRIGUE Phase 3 study to treat second-line GIST.