Short Interest in BioCryst Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:BCRX) Decreases By 9.1%

BioCryst Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:BCRX) saw a large drop in short interest in the month of December. As of December 31st, there was short interest totalling 15,720,000 shares, a drop of 9.1% from the December 15th total of 17,290,000 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 2,050,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 7.7 days.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On BioCryst Pharmaceuticals

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Deerfield Management Company L.P. Series C grew its stake in shares of BioCryst Pharmaceuticals by 62.9% during the 2nd quarter. Deerfield Management Company L.P. Series C now owns 8,135,804 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $50,279,000 after acquiring an additional 3,140,804 shares in the last quarter. Cubist Systematic Strategies LLC grew its position in BioCryst Pharmaceuticals by 528.0% in the second quarter. Cubist Systematic Strategies LLC now owns 1,112,232 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $6,874,000 after purchasing an additional 935,132 shares in the last quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC increased its stake in BioCryst Pharmaceuticals by 16.9% in the 3rd quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 3,338,062 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $25,369,000 after buying an additional 481,359 shares during the last quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets lifted its position in BioCryst Pharmaceuticals by 472.0% during the 3rd quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 496,784 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $3,776,000 after buying an additional 409,938 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Principal Financial Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of BioCryst Pharmaceuticals by 1,058.1% during the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 411,414 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $3,127,000 after buying an additional 375,890 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 85.88% of the company’s stock.

BioCryst Pharmaceuticals Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:BCRX opened at $7.45 on Monday. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $7.57 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $7.62. The company has a market capitalization of $1.54 billion, a PE ratio of -12.21 and a beta of 1.76. BioCryst Pharmaceuticals has a 52 week low of $4.03 and a 52 week high of $8.88.

BioCryst Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:BCRX) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Monday, November 4th. The biotechnology company reported ($0.07) EPS for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of ($0.07). The company had revenue of $117.10 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $113.99 million. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted ($0.19) earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 35.1% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that BioCryst Pharmaceuticals will post -0.38 earnings per share for the current year.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have recently commented on BCRX. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $10.00 price objective on shares of BioCryst Pharmaceuticals in a report on Tuesday, November 5th. Evercore ISI raised their target price on BioCryst Pharmaceuticals from $10.00 to $12.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, January 13th. Barclays increased their price objective on shares of BioCryst Pharmaceuticals from $7.00 to $8.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 5th. Finally, Needham & Company LLC boosted their target price on shares of BioCryst Pharmaceuticals from $14.00 to $15.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, January 13th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $15.17.

BioCryst Pharmaceuticals Company Profile

BioCryst Pharmaceuticals, Inc, a biotechnology company, develops oral small-molecule and protein therapeutics to treat rare diseases. The company markets peramivir injection, an intravenous neuraminidase inhibitor for the treatment of acute uncomplicated influenza under the RAPIVAB, RAPIACTA, and PERAMIFLU names; and ORLADEYO, an oral serine protease inhibitor to treat hereditary angioedema.