Short Interest in Arcturus Therapeutics Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:ARCT) Rises By 6.6%

Arcturus Therapeutics Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:ARCT) saw a significant growth in short interest in the month of June. As of June 15th, there was short interest totalling 4,380,000 shares, a growth of 6.6% from the May 31st total of 4,110,000 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 594,800 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 7.4 days. Approximately 17.8% of the company’s shares are short sold.

Insider Buying and Selling at Arcturus Therapeutics

In related news, COO Pad Chivukula sold 26,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, June 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $40.01, for a total transaction of $1,040,260.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 447,448 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $17,902,394.48. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Company insiders own 13.80% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Arcturus Therapeutics

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Russell Investments Group Ltd. acquired a new position in shares of Arcturus Therapeutics in the first quarter valued at approximately $40,000. AJOVista LLC acquired a new position in Arcturus Therapeutics in the 4th quarter valued at $65,000. Quest Partners LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Arcturus Therapeutics in the 4th quarter worth $67,000. Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio purchased a new stake in shares of Arcturus Therapeutics in the fourth quarter valued at about $89,000. Finally, China Universal Asset Management Co. Ltd. increased its stake in shares of Arcturus Therapeutics by 352.3% during the fourth quarter. China Universal Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 3,089 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $97,000 after acquiring an additional 2,406 shares during the period. 94.54% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts have commented on the stock. Canaccord Genuity Group dropped their price target on shares of Arcturus Therapeutics from $87.00 to $86.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, May 10th. HC Wainwright reissued a “buy” rating and set a $60.00 price objective on shares of Arcturus Therapeutics in a research report on Tuesday. Finally, William Blair reaffirmed an “outperform” rating on shares of Arcturus Therapeutics in a report on Thursday, May 23rd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $64.86.

Arcturus Therapeutics Price Performance

Shares of Arcturus Therapeutics stock opened at $21.93 on Thursday. The stock has a market capitalization of $590.57 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -5.61 and a beta of 2.65. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $29.89 and its 200-day simple moving average is $32.50. Arcturus Therapeutics has a 12 month low of $17.52 and a 12 month high of $45.00.

Arcturus Therapeutics (NASDAQ:ARCT) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, May 8th. The biotechnology company reported ($1.00) EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of ($1.17) by $0.17. Arcturus Therapeutics had a negative net margin of 81.59% and a negative return on equity of 37.61%. The business had revenue of $38.01 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $22.12 million. Analysts anticipate that Arcturus Therapeutics will post -4.39 earnings per share for the current year.

About Arcturus Therapeutics

Arcturus Therapeutics Holdings Inc, a late-stage clinical messenger RNA medicines and vaccine company, focuses on the development of infectious disease vaccines and other products within liver and respiratory rare diseases. Its technology platforms include LUNAR lipid-mediated delivery and STARR mRNA.