OncoCyte Co. (NASDAQ:OCX) Short Interest Update

OncoCyte Co. (NASDAQ:OCX) saw a significant increase in short interest in the month of March. As of March 15th, there was short interest totalling 373,800 shares, an increase of 22.4% from the February 28th total of 305,500 shares. Approximately 2.5% of the shares of the company are short sold. Based on an average trading volume of 89,700 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 4.2 days.

OncoCyte Stock Down 1.0 %

Shares of OCX stock opened at $2.92 on Friday. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $2.87 and a 200 day simple moving average of $2.72. The stock has a market capitalization of $83.51 million, a P/E ratio of -0.66 and a beta of 0.79. OncoCyte has a fifty-two week low of $1.92 and a fifty-two week high of $4.75.

OncoCyte (NASDAQ:OCX) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Monday, March 24th. The company reported $0.48 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of ($0.40) by $0.88. OncoCyte had a negative net margin of 6,122.29% and a negative return on equity of 269.32%. The company had revenue of $1.49 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $0.16 million. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that OncoCyte will post -2.57 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling at OncoCyte

In other news, CFO Andrea S. James purchased 97,561 shares of OncoCyte stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 7th. The stock was bought at an average price of $2.05 per share, with a total value of $200,000.05. Following the completion of the acquisition, the chief financial officer now owns 151,231 shares in the company, valued at $310,023.55. The trade was a 181.78 % increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, major shareholder Patrick W. Smith acquired 1,077,600 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 7th. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $2.05 per share, for a total transaction of $2,209,080.00. Following the acquisition, the insider now owns 2,872,671 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,888,975.55. This trade represents a 60.03 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Insiders purchased a total of 1,185,625 shares of company stock worth $2,430,510 over the last ninety days. Company insiders own 1.58% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of OCX. Ground Swell Capital LLC bought a new stake in shares of OncoCyte during the 4th quarter worth $26,000. Two Sigma Securities LLC purchased a new stake in shares of OncoCyte during the fourth quarter valued at $31,000. FNY Investment Advisers LLC boosted its position in shares of OncoCyte by 15.1% in the 4th quarter. FNY Investment Advisers LLC now owns 49,377 shares of the company’s stock valued at $117,000 after purchasing an additional 6,481 shares during the period. Wealthedge Investment Advisors LLC purchased a new position in OncoCyte in the 4th quarter worth about $126,000. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC increased its stake in OncoCyte by 12.2% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 103,980 shares of the company’s stock worth $296,000 after purchasing an additional 11,289 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 55.35% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts have issued reports on the company. StockNews.com started coverage on OncoCyte in a research report on Monday. They set a “sell” rating for the company. Lake Street Capital started coverage on shares of OncoCyte in a report on Friday, March 28th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $5.00 price objective for the company. Needham & Company LLC reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $4.25 target price on shares of OncoCyte in a research report on Tuesday, March 25th. Finally, Stephens restated an “equal weight” rating and set a $4.00 price target on shares of OncoCyte in a research report on Tuesday, March 25th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has assigned a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $4.56.

OncoCyte Company Profile

OncoCyte Corporation, a precision diagnostics company, focuses on development and commercialization of proprietary tests in the United States and internationally. The company is developing DetermaIO, a gene expression test that assesses the tumor microenvironment to predict response to immunotherapies; DetermaCNI, a blood-based monitoring tool for monitoring therapeutic efficacy in cancer patients; and VitaGraft, a blood-based solid organ transplantation monitoring test.