Short Interest in Kezar Life Sciences, Inc. (NASDAQ:KZR) Increases By 80.7%

Kezar Life Sciences, Inc. (NASDAQ:KZR) saw a large growth in short interest in the month of December. As of December 31st, there was short interest totalling 85,300 shares, a growth of 80.7% from the December 15th total of 47,200 shares. Currently, 1.4% of the shares of the company are short sold. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 71,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 1.2 days.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Kezar Life Sciences

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Stonepine Capital Management LLC purchased a new position in Kezar Life Sciences in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $630,000. Acadian Asset Management LLC grew its holdings in Kezar Life Sciences by 3.6% in the second quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC now owns 1,855,194 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,112,000 after purchasing an additional 64,356 shares during the last quarter. Point72 Asia Singapore Pte. Ltd. purchased a new position in shares of Kezar Life Sciences in the second quarter valued at $63,000. Mackenzie Financial Corp acquired a new position in shares of Kezar Life Sciences during the 2nd quarter worth $35,000. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Kezar Life Sciences by 15.0% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 626,912 shares of the company’s stock worth $485,000 after buying an additional 81,678 shares in the last quarter. 67.90% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts have recently commented on the stock. William Blair restated a “market perform” rating on shares of Kezar Life Sciences in a research note on Wednesday, November 13th. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price objective on shares of Kezar Life Sciences from $11.00 to $9.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, December 19th. Finally, HC Wainwright reiterated a “neutral” rating on shares of Kezar Life Sciences in a research report on Monday, December 2nd.

Kezar Life Sciences Price Performance

Kezar Life Sciences stock opened at $6.21 on Wednesday. The company has a market cap of $45.31 million, a P/E ratio of -0.47 and a beta of 0.21. Kezar Life Sciences has a one year low of $5.20 and a one year high of $11.35. The business has a fifty day moving average of $6.99 and a two-hundred day moving average of $6.72. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.05, a quick ratio of 7.65 and a current ratio of 7.65.

Kezar Life Sciences (NASDAQ:KZR) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, November 12th. The company reported ($2.78) EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($3.03) by $0.25. As a group, analysts predict that Kezar Life Sciences will post -5.17 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Kezar Life Sciences Company Profile

Kezar Life Sciences, Inc, a clinical-stage biotechnology company, engages in the discovery and development of novel small molecule therapeutics to treat unmet needs in immune-mediated diseases and cancer in the United States. The company's lead product candidate is zetomipzomib (KZR-616), a selective immunoproteasome inhibitor that is in Phase 2b clinical trials for various indications, including lupus nephritis, dermatomyositis, and polymyositis; Phase 1b clinical trials in systemic lupus erythematosus; and completed Phase 2a clinical trials in lupus nephritis.