Exagen Inc. (NASDAQ:XGN) Sees Large Growth in Short Interest

Exagen Inc. (NASDAQ:XGN) was the target of a significant increase in short interest in the month of December. As of December 15th, there was short interest totalling 78,100 shares, an increase of 36.5% from the November 30th total of 57,200 shares. Currently, 0.9% of the company’s stock are short sold. Based on an average daily volume of 82,200 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 1.0 days.

Exagen Price Performance

Shares of Exagen stock opened at $4.71 on Friday. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $3.84 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $2.98. The company has a market cap of $83.07 million, a PE ratio of -5.01 and a beta of 1.49. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.54, a current ratio of 4.05 and a quick ratio of 4.05. Exagen has a fifty-two week low of $1.30 and a fifty-two week high of $6.22.

Exagen (NASDAQ:XGN) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, November 12th. The company reported ($0.28) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($0.30) by $0.02. Exagen had a negative return on equity of 92.58% and a negative net margin of 30.36%. The firm had revenue of $12.51 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $13.55 million. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted ($0.31) earnings per share. Analysts expect that Exagen will post -0.87 EPS for the current year.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Separately, William Blair reissued an “outperform” rating on shares of Exagen in a research report on Wednesday, November 13th.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, major shareholder Nmsic Co-Investment Fund, L.P. sold 200,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, November 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $3.30, for a total transaction of $660,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 2,108,958 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,959,561.40. This trade represents a 8.66 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CEO John Aballi purchased 24,305 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, November 14th. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $2.81 per share, with a total value of $68,297.05. Following the purchase, the chief executive officer now owns 689,799 shares in the company, valued at $1,938,335.19. This represents a 3.65 % increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. 26.10% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Renaissance Technologies LLC grew its position in Exagen by 93.3% during the 2nd quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 94,234 shares of the company’s stock worth $172,000 after acquiring an additional 45,476 shares during the last quarter. Creative Planning acquired a new position in Exagen in the third quarter worth $110,000. Palumbo Wealth Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Exagen by 14.5% during the third quarter. Palumbo Wealth Management LLC now owns 76,364 shares of the company’s stock worth $236,000 after purchasing an additional 9,695 shares during the last quarter. Verus Capital Partners LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Exagen in the third quarter valued at $39,000. Finally, Stonepine Capital Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Exagen by 49.0% in the third quarter. Stonepine Capital Management LLC now owns 534,398 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,651,000 after buying an additional 175,701 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 75.25% of the company’s stock.

About Exagen

Exagen Inc develops and commercializes various testing products under the AVISE brand in the United States. The company enables healthcare providers to care for patients through the diagnosis, prognosis, and monitoring of autoimmune and autoimmune-related diseases, including systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) and rheumatoid arthritis (RA).