PepGen Inc. (NASDAQ:PEPG) Sees Large Growth in Short Interest

PepGen Inc. (NASDAQ:PEPG) saw a large increase in short interest in the month of February. As of February 15th, there was short interest totalling 852,600 shares, an increase of 26.2% from the January 31st total of 675,600 shares. Approximately 3.1% of the shares of the company are sold short. Based on an average trading volume of 2,050,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 0.4 days.

PepGen Trading Down 2.9 %

Shares of NASDAQ:PEPG traded down $0.07 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $2.35. The stock had a trading volume of 57,957 shares, compared to its average volume of 775,097. The company has a market cap of $76.83 million, a P/E ratio of -0.79 and a beta of 0.98. PepGen has a 1 year low of $1.16 and a 1 year high of $19.30. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $2.25 and its 200 day moving average price is $5.52.

PepGen (NASDAQ:PEPG) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Monday, February 24th. The company reported ($0.68) EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.81) by $0.13. Analysts predict that PepGen will post -2.73 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On PepGen

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Suvretta Capital Management LLC lifted its position in shares of PepGen by 9.2% during the third quarter. Suvretta Capital Management LLC now owns 1,660,932 shares of the company’s stock worth $14,201,000 after purchasing an additional 140,000 shares during the last quarter. Jane Street Group LLC lifted its holdings in PepGen by 29.1% during the 3rd quarter. Jane Street Group LLC now owns 27,748 shares of the company’s stock valued at $237,000 after buying an additional 6,254 shares in the last quarter. Barclays PLC boosted its position in PepGen by 318.7% in the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 21,971 shares of the company’s stock valued at $189,000 after buying an additional 16,723 shares during the period. JPMorgan Chase & Co. grew its stake in PepGen by 289.9% in the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 26,611 shares of the company’s stock worth $228,000 after acquiring an additional 19,786 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Janus Henderson Group PLC increased its position in shares of PepGen by 331.2% during the third quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 2,336,516 shares of the company’s stock worth $20,012,000 after acquiring an additional 1,794,641 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 58.01% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

PEPG has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Wedbush cut their target price on PepGen from $19.00 to $12.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, November 8th. HC Wainwright reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $16.00 price objective on shares of PepGen in a report on Monday, February 24th. Finally, Bank of America cut shares of PepGen from a “neutral” rating to an “underperform” rating and set a $3.00 price objective on the stock. in a research report on Monday, December 16th.

About PepGen

PepGen Inc, a clinical-stage biotechnology company, focuses on the development of oligonucleotide therapeutics for use in the treatment of severe neuromuscular and neurologic diseases. Its lead product candidate is PGN-EDO51, an EDO peptide that is in Phase 2 clinical trial to treat Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD) patients.