Humacyte, Inc. (NASDAQ:HUMA) Sees Significant Growth in Short Interest

Humacyte, Inc. (NASDAQ:HUMA) was the target of a large increase in short interest during the month of January. As of January 15th, there was short interest totalling 29,620,000 shares, an increase of 34.9% from the December 31st total of 21,960,000 shares. Approximately 28.4% of the shares of the stock are short sold. Based on an average daily volume of 4,700,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 6.3 days.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

HUMA has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. D. Boral Capital restated a “buy” rating and set a $25.00 price objective on shares of Humacyte in a research note on Tuesday, January 21st. HC Wainwright reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $15.00 price objective (up from $12.00) on shares of Humacyte in a research report on Friday, December 20th. Piper Sandler set a $6.00 target price on shares of Humacyte and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, October 18th. TD Cowen reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $10.00 price target on shares of Humacyte in a report on Friday, October 18th. Finally, BTIG Research restated a “buy” rating and set a $10.00 price objective on shares of Humacyte in a report on Friday, October 18th. One analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, six have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $13.71.

Insider Transactions at Humacyte

In other news, Director Brady W. Dougan sold 427,459 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, November 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $4.34, for a total value of $1,855,172.06. Following the transaction, the director now owns 1,992,253 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $8,646,378.02. This represents a 17.67 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Laura E. Niklason sold 261,369 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, November 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $4.40, for a total transaction of $1,150,023.60. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 1,730,884 shares in the company, valued at $7,615,889.60. This represents a 13.12 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 1,500,000 shares of company stock valued at $6,606,799. 11.20% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Humacyte

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of HUMA. Vontobel Holding Ltd. acquired a new stake in Humacyte in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $50,000. Brookstone Capital Management acquired a new stake in shares of Humacyte during the 4th quarter valued at $56,000. ACT Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in Humacyte during the 4th quarter worth $57,000. Concurrent Investment Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Humacyte in the 3rd quarter worth about $75,000. Finally, FORA Capital LLC bought a new position in Humacyte in the third quarter valued at about $96,000. Institutional investors own 44.71% of the company’s stock.

Humacyte Stock Performance

HUMA opened at $4.58 on Friday. Humacyte has a 52-week low of $2.81 and a 52-week high of $9.97. The business’s fifty day moving average is $4.53 and its 200-day moving average is $5.58. The firm has a market cap of $576.43 million, a P/E ratio of -3.42 and a beta of 1.32.

Humacyte (NASDAQ:HUMA) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Friday, November 8th. The company reported ($0.33) earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.25) by ($0.08). During the same period in the prior year, the company earned ($0.25) EPS. On average, research analysts predict that Humacyte will post -1.27 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Humacyte Company Profile

Humacyte, Inc engages in the development and manufacture of off-the-shelf, implantable, and bioengineered human tissues for the treatment of diseases and conditions across a range of anatomic locations in multiple therapeutic areas. The company using its proprietary and scientific technology platform to engineer and manufacture human acellular vessels (HAVs) to be implanted into patient without inducing a foreign body response or leading to immune rejection.