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

Humacyte, Inc. (NASDAQ:HUMA) saw a large increase in short interest in the month of September. As of September 15th, there was short interest totalling 14,010,000 shares, an increase of 24.3% from the August 31st total of 11,270,000 shares. Currently, 15.0% of the company’s shares are sold short. Based on an average daily volume of 3,270,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 4.3 days.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, Director Brady W. Dougan sold 252,676 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $6.71, for a total value of $1,695,455.96. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 4,306,464 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $28,896,373.44. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. In related news, Director Brady W. Dougan sold 252,676 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $6.71, for a total value of $1,695,455.96. Following the transaction, the director now owns 4,306,464 shares in the company, valued at $28,896,373.44. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, Director Brady W. Dougan sold 352,112 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, August 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $6.35, for a total transaction of $2,235,911.20. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 3,677,262 shares in the company, valued at approximately $23,350,613.70. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 1,084,153 shares of company stock valued at $6,869,996 in the last quarter. 23.10% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Humacyte

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in Humacyte by 28.7% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 4,019,681 shares of the company’s stock valued at $12,501,000 after purchasing an additional 896,415 shares during the last quarter. Millennium Management LLC grew its position in shares of Humacyte by 504.3% during the 2nd quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 1,599,307 shares of the company’s stock valued at $7,677,000 after buying an additional 1,334,641 shares during the last quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC raised its stake in Humacyte by 693.0% during the second quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 600,300 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,881,000 after acquiring an additional 524,600 shares during the period. Marshall Wace LLP lifted its holdings in Humacyte by 3,301.5% in the second quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 463,662 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,226,000 after acquiring an additional 450,031 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Private Advisor Group LLC boosted its stake in Humacyte by 15.4% in the second quarter. Private Advisor Group LLC now owns 366,600 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,760,000 after acquiring an additional 48,976 shares during the period. 44.71% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have recently issued reports on HUMA. Benchmark reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $15.00 price objective on shares of Humacyte in a research note on Thursday, September 5th. BTIG Research upped their price objective on shares of Humacyte from $8.00 to $11.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, July 15th. Cantor Fitzgerald restated an “overweight” rating and set a $13.00 target price on shares of Humacyte in a research note on Friday, September 20th. Finally, EF Hutton Acquisition Co. I upgraded Humacyte to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, September 9th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, four have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $9.80.

Humacyte Trading Up 0.4 %

HUMA opened at $5.60 on Monday. Humacyte has a 12-month low of $1.96 and a 12-month high of $9.97. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61, a current ratio of 5.41 and a quick ratio of 5.41. The stock has a market capitalization of $666.87 million, a PE ratio of -5.60 and a beta of 1.47. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $6.60 and its 200 day moving average price is $5.69.

Humacyte (NASDAQ:HUMA) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, August 13th. The company reported ($0.27) EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.23) by ($0.04). As a group, research analysts expect that Humacyte will post -1.09 EPS for the current fiscal year.

About Humacyte

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.