Short Interest in Inovio Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:INO) Rises By 9.5%

Inovio Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:INO) saw a large growth in short interest in September. As of September 30th, there was short interest totalling 3,340,000 shares, a growth of 9.5% from the September 15th total of 3,050,000 shares. Approximately 13.0% of the company’s stock are short sold. Based on an average trading volume of 329,200 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 10.1 days.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Inovio Pharmaceuticals

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in INO. SG Americas Securities LLC bought a new stake in shares of Inovio Pharmaceuticals during the third quarter worth approximately $71,000. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company bought a new stake in Inovio Pharmaceuticals in the 2nd quarter valued at $82,000. Signature Estate & Investment Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Inovio Pharmaceuticals in the 2nd quarter valued at $88,000. Cornercap Investment Counsel Inc. bought a new position in Inovio Pharmaceuticals during the 2nd quarter worth $184,000. Finally, American Century Companies Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Inovio Pharmaceuticals by 62.2% during the second quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 31,565 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $255,000 after buying an additional 12,100 shares in the last quarter. 26.79% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. HC Wainwright reiterated a “neutral” rating and issued a $15.00 price objective on shares of Inovio Pharmaceuticals in a report on Monday, July 15th. Royal Bank of Canada lowered their price target on shares of Inovio Pharmaceuticals from $8.00 to $7.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, October 4th. Finally, Oppenheimer reduced their price objective on shares of Inovio Pharmaceuticals from $40.00 to $33.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, August 12th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $43.80.

Inovio Pharmaceuticals Price Performance

Shares of INO opened at $5.74 on Thursday. Inovio Pharmaceuticals has a one year low of $3.89 and a one year high of $14.75. The company has a market cap of $148.73 million, a PE ratio of -1.55 and a beta of 0.82. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $6.70 and a 200-day moving average of $9.07.

Inovio Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:INO) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, August 8th. The biopharmaceutical company reported ($1.19) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of ($1.10) by ($0.09). The firm had revenue of $0.10 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $0.10 million. During the same period last year, the firm posted ($1.56) earnings per share. Analysts expect that Inovio Pharmaceuticals will post -4.64 earnings per share for the current year.

Inovio Pharmaceuticals Company Profile

Inovio Pharmaceuticals, Inc, a biotechnology company, focuses on the discovery, development, and commercialization of DNA medicines to treat and protect people from diseases associated with human papillomavirus (HPV), cancer, and infectious diseases. Its DNA medicines platform uses precisely designed SynCon that identify and optimize the DNA sequence of the target antigen, as well as CELLECTRA smart devices technology that facilitates delivery of the DNA plasmids.