Short Interest in Grifols, S.A. (NASDAQ:GRFS) Decreases By 25.0%

Grifols, S.A. (NASDAQ:GRFS) was the recipient of a significant drop in short interest in the month of March. As of March 31st, there was short interest totaling 5,261,576 shares, a drop of 25.0% from the March 15th total of 7,018,881 shares. Currently, 0.8% of the company’s stock are short sold. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 812,133 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 6.5 days.

Grifols Stock Up 1.7%

GRFS traded up $0.15 on Friday, hitting $8.75. The company had a trading volume of 672,534 shares, compared to its average volume of 685,459. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $8.51 and a 200-day moving average price of $8.91. Grifols has a 12-month low of $6.86 and a 12-month high of $11.14. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.20, a quick ratio of 0.88 and a current ratio of 2.51. The stock has a market capitalization of $5.96 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 46.05, a P/E/G ratio of 0.27 and a beta of 0.70.

Grifols (NASDAQ:GRFS) last posted its earnings results on Saturday, February 14th. The biotechnology company reported $0.38 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter. Grifols had a return on equity of 6.23% and a net margin of 6.65%.The company had revenue of $2.32 billion for the quarter. Analysts predict that Grifols will post 0.81 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Grifols

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. grew its stake in Grifols by 31.8% in the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 2,488,294 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $24,783,000 after purchasing an additional 600,118 shares during the last quarter. New York State Common Retirement Fund grew its stake in Grifols by 5.6% in the third quarter. New York State Common Retirement Fund now owns 2,589,406 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $25,790,000 after purchasing an additional 136,678 shares during the last quarter. AdvisorShares Investments LLC purchased a new position in Grifols in the third quarter valued at about $1,012,000. Integrated Quantitative Investments LLC acquired a new stake in Grifols in the third quarter worth about $1,361,000. Finally, Envestnet Asset Management Inc. boosted its holdings in Grifols by 80.2% in the third quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 515,853 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $5,138,000 after acquiring an additional 229,661 shares in the last quarter.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages have recently commented on GRFS. Wall Street Zen upgraded Grifols from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Saturday, March 21st. Weiss Ratings lowered Grifols from a “hold (c-)” rating to a “sell (d+)” rating in a research note on Friday, March 27th. Finally, Zacks Research upgraded Grifols from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, February 6th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Reduce” and a consensus price target of $10.00.

About Grifols

Grifols, Inc (NASDAQ: GRFS) is a global healthcare company specializing in the development, manufacture and marketing of plasma-derived medicines, diagnostic systems and hospital supplies. With a core focus on immunotherapy and transfusion medicine, the company harnesses human plasma proteins to create therapies that treat a wide range of bleeding disorders, immunodeficiencies and neurological conditions. Grifols also supplies reagents and diagnostic instruments for transfusion centers and clinical laboratories, alongside intravenous solutions and medical devices for hospital use.

The company operates three main business units.