Short Interest in Humacyte, Inc. (NASDAQ:HUMA) Rises By 17.2%

Humacyte, Inc. (NASDAQ:HUMA) was the target of a large growth in short interest in the month of May. As of May 31st, there was short interest totalling 4,910,000 shares, a growth of 17.2% from the May 15th total of 4,190,000 shares. Currently, 5.4% of the shares of the stock are short sold. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 2,020,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 2.4 days.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Laura E. Niklason sold 809,786 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 31st. The stock was sold at an average price of $7.91, for a total value of $6,405,407.26. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 5,381,354 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $42,566,510.14. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. In related news, CEO Laura E. Niklason sold 809,786 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 31st. The stock was sold at an average price of $7.91, for a total value of $6,405,407.26. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 5,381,354 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $42,566,510.14. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Director Gordon M. Binder acquired 50,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, May 15th. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $6.78 per share, with a total value of $339,000.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the director now directly owns 160,000 shares in the company, valued at $1,084,800. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. In the last three months, insiders acquired 54,412 shares of company stock valued at $369,107 and sold 1,628,820 shares valued at $12,464,121. Insiders own 23.10% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Humacyte

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in HUMA. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in shares of Humacyte by 28.7% in 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 period. Capstone Investment Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Humacyte in the first quarter valued at $972,000. Private Advisor Group LLC grew its position in shares of Humacyte by 232.7% in the first quarter. Private Advisor Group LLC now owns 317,624 shares of the company’s stock valued at $988,000 after purchasing an additional 222,144 shares during the period. GSA Capital Partners LLP grew its position in shares of Humacyte by 139.5% in the third quarter. GSA Capital Partners LLP now owns 355,918 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,043,000 after purchasing an additional 207,333 shares during the period. Finally, Rokos Capital Management LLP grew its position in shares of Humacyte by 122.5% in the third quarter. Rokos Capital Management LLP now owns 200,000 shares of the company’s stock valued at $587,000 after purchasing an additional 110,097 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 44.71% of the company’s stock.

Humacyte Stock Performance

Humacyte stock opened at $6.19 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61, a quick ratio of 8.37 and a current ratio of 8.37. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $5.52 and a two-hundred day moving average of $4.03. The company has a market capitalization of $737.11 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -6.19 and a beta of 1.61. Humacyte has a fifty-two week low of $1.96 and a fifty-two week high of $9.97.

Humacyte (NASDAQ:HUMA) last released its quarterly earnings results on Friday, May 10th. The company reported ($0.29) earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($0.23) by ($0.06). On average, analysts anticipate that Humacyte will post -0.95 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts recently weighed in on HUMA shares. Cantor Fitzgerald reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and issued a $7.00 price objective on shares of Humacyte in a research note on Monday, April 1st. Piper Sandler reissued a “neutral” rating and set a $4.00 price target on shares of Humacyte in a research report on Tuesday, March 26th. Finally, Benchmark reissued a “buy” rating and set a $15.00 price target on shares of Humacyte in a research report on Friday, May 24th.

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.