Short Interest in PepGen Inc. (NASDAQ:PEPG) Expands By 229.6%

PepGen Inc. (NASDAQ:PEPG) was the recipient of a significant increase in short interest in February. As of February 28th, there was short interest totalling 2,810,000 shares, an increase of 229.6% from the February 13th total of 852,600 shares. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 2,690,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 1.0 days. Approximately 10.3% of the shares of the stock are short sold.

PepGen Trading Down 9.5 %

PEPG stock traded down $0.24 during trading hours on Thursday, hitting $2.24. 376,152 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 784,998. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $2.13 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $5.28. PepGen has a 12 month low of $1.16 and a 12 month high of $19.30. The firm has a market capitalization of $73.07 million, a P/E ratio of -0.75 and a beta of 0.96.

PepGen (NASDAQ:PEPG) last issued its earnings results on Monday, February 24th. The company reported ($0.68) EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of ($0.81) by $0.13. On average, equities research analysts predict that PepGen will post -2.73 earnings per share for the current year.

Institutional Trading of PepGen

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. RTW Investments LP bought a new stake in PepGen during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $12,102,000. Millennium Management LLC lifted its position in PepGen by 1,033.2% in the 4th quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 156,636 shares of the company’s stock worth $594,000 after buying an additional 142,814 shares during the last quarter. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. bought a new stake in shares of PepGen in the 4th quarter worth approximately $516,000. Deutsche Bank AG boosted its position in PepGen by 442.5% during the 4th quarter. Deutsche Bank AG now owns 44,735 shares of the company’s stock valued at $170,000 after buying an additional 36,489 shares during the period. Finally, Corton Capital Inc. purchased a new stake in PepGen during the 4th quarter valued at about $68,000. Institutional investors own 58.01% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have recently weighed in on PEPG. Bank of America lowered PepGen from a “neutral” rating to an “underperform” rating and set a $3.00 price target on the stock. in a research note on Monday, December 16th. HC Wainwright restated a “buy” rating and issued a $16.00 price target on shares of PepGen in a research note on Monday, February 24th.

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.