Short Interest in XBiotech Inc. (NASDAQ:XBIT) Grows By 21.3%

XBiotech Inc. (NASDAQ:XBIT) was the target of a significant growth in short interest in March. As of March 31st, there was short interest totaling 144,176 shares, a growth of 21.3% from the March 15th total of 118,904 shares. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 64,178 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 2.2 days. Approximately 0.7% of the company’s stock are short sold.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Separately, Weiss Ratings reissued a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of XBiotech in a research note on Monday, December 29th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Sell rating, Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Sell”.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On XBiotech

Hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Persistent Asset Partners Ltd acquired a new stake in XBiotech during the 4th quarter valued at $32,000. XTX Topco Ltd lifted its holdings in XBiotech by 44.1% during the 4th quarter. XTX Topco Ltd now owns 21,703 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $52,000 after purchasing an additional 6,647 shares during the last quarter. Bank of America Corp DE lifted its holdings in XBiotech by 41.5% during the 2nd quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 18,208 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $54,000 after purchasing an additional 5,344 shares during the last quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets lifted its holdings in XBiotech by 27.1% during the 2nd quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 20,729 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $62,000 after purchasing an additional 4,416 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Jane Street Group LLC acquired a new stake in XBiotech during the 2nd quarter valued at $75,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 55.70% of the company’s stock.

XBiotech Price Performance

Shares of XBiotech stock opened at $2.43 on Friday. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $2.35 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $2.44. XBiotech has a 1 year low of $2.09 and a 1 year high of $3.61. The company has a market capitalization of $74.09 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -1.62 and a beta of 0.84.

XBiotech (NASDAQ:XBIT) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Friday, March 13th. The biopharmaceutical company reported ($0.88) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter.

XBiotech Company Profile

XBiotech Inc is a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company developing human antibodies to treat cancer and other inflammatory-driven diseases. The company’s core technology, the True Human™ antibody platform, enables the discovery and development of monoclonal antibodies that mimic the human immune response without the need for genetic humanization. XBiotech’s lead therapeutic candidate targets interleukin-1 alpha (IL-1α), a key mediator of inflammation associated with tumor growth and chronic disease.

The company’s most advanced program, Xilonix® (MABp1), is a first-in-class anti-IL-1α antibody that has completed Phase 3 clinical trials in metastatic colorectal cancer patients.