Capricor Therapeutics Inc (NASDAQ:CAPR) Sees Significant Growth in Short Interest

Capricor Therapeutics Inc (NASDAQ:CAPR) was the target of a large growth in short interest in the month of August. As of August 31st, there was short interest totalling 7,470,000 shares, a growth of 6.7% from the August 15th total of 7,000,000 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 382,300 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 19.5 days.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Capricor Therapeutics

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Jump Financial LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Capricor Therapeutics during the fourth quarter worth approximately $258,000. BNP Paribas Financial Markets acquired a new position in Capricor Therapeutics during the 1st quarter worth approximately $40,000. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in shares of Capricor Therapeutics by 17.2% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 1,365,903 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $9,274,000 after purchasing an additional 200,499 shares during the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp increased its position in shares of Capricor Therapeutics by 12.8% in the 2nd quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 79,782 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $381,000 after purchasing an additional 9,040 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Rhumbline Advisers acquired a new stake in shares of Capricor Therapeutics in the 2nd quarter valued at $147,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 21.68% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

CAPR has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Maxim Group reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $12.00 price target on shares of Capricor Therapeutics in a research note on Tuesday. Oppenheimer upped their price target on Capricor Therapeutics from $14.00 to $15.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday. Finally, HC Wainwright restated a “buy” rating and set a $40.00 price target on shares of Capricor Therapeutics in a research report on Tuesday. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $20.00.

Capricor Therapeutics Stock Up 3.5 %

Shares of CAPR opened at $5.30 on Thursday. Capricor Therapeutics has a fifty-two week low of $2.68 and a fifty-two week high of $7.28. The company has a market cap of $169.49 million, a P/E ratio of -5.89 and a beta of 3.92. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $4.35 and its 200 day moving average price is $5.18.

Capricor Therapeutics (NASDAQ:CAPR) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, August 7th. The biotechnology company reported ($0.35) earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.32) by ($0.03). The company had revenue of $3.97 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.51 million. Capricor Therapeutics had a negative return on equity of 220.27% and a negative net margin of 102.93%. Research analysts forecast that Capricor Therapeutics will post -1.24 earnings per share for the current year.

About Capricor Therapeutics

Capricor Therapeutics, Inc (NASDAQ:CAPR) is a clinical-stage biotechnology company focused on the discovery, development and commercialization of first-in-class biological therapeutics for the treatment of rare disorders. Capricor’s lead candidate, CAP-1002, is an allogeneic cell therapy that is currently in clinical development for the treatment of Duchenne muscular dystrophy.