Exagen Inc. (NASDAQ:XGN) Sees Significant Increase in Short Interest

Exagen Inc. (NASDAQ:XGN) was the recipient of a large increase in short interest in the month of January. As of January 31st, there was short interest totalling 26,700 shares, an increase of 260.8% from the January 15th total of 7,400 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 170,600 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 0.2 days. Approximately 0.3% of the company’s shares are sold short.

Exagen Price Performance

XGN opened at $4.32 on Thursday. The firm has a market cap of $76.19 million, a P/E ratio of -4.60 and a beta of 1.41. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.54, a quick ratio of 4.05 and a current ratio of 4.05. Exagen has a fifty-two week low of $1.30 and a fifty-two week high of $6.22. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $4.34 and a 200 day moving average of $3.45.

Exagen (NASDAQ:XGN) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, November 12th. The company reported ($0.28) earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of ($0.30) by $0.02. The company had revenue of $12.51 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $13.55 million. Exagen had a negative return on equity of 92.58% and a negative net margin of 30.36%. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted ($0.31) EPS. On average, research analysts expect that Exagen will post -0.88 EPS for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, major shareholder Nmsic Co-Investment Fund, L.P. sold 200,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, November 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $3.30, for a total transaction of $660,000.00. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 2,108,958 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,959,561.40. This represents a 8.66 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Company insiders own 26.10% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Exagen

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of XGN. Stonepine Capital Management LLC increased its holdings 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 worth $1,651,000 after purchasing an additional 175,701 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Exagen by 11.9% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 98,057 shares of the company’s stock valued at $402,000 after acquiring an additional 10,442 shares in the last quarter. Palumbo Wealth Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Exagen by 13.5% during the 4th quarter. Palumbo Wealth Management LLC now owns 86,704 shares of the company’s stock valued at $355,000 after acquiring an additional 10,340 shares during the last quarter. Creative Planning bought a new stake in shares of Exagen during the 3rd quarter valued at about $110,000. Finally, Verus Capital Partners LLC purchased a new position in shares of Exagen during the third quarter worth about $39,000. 75.25% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

XGN has been the subject of several research reports. Canaccord Genuity Group raised their target price on Exagen from $5.00 to $7.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, January 3rd. William Blair reissued an “outperform” rating on shares of Exagen in a research note on Wednesday, November 13th. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and set a $8.00 target price on shares of Exagen in a research report on Monday, January 13th.

Exagen Company Profile

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).