Exagen Inc. (NASDAQ:XGN) Short Interest Up 36.5% in December

Exagen Inc. (NASDAQ:XGN) was the target of a large growth in short interest in December. As of December 15th, there was short interest totalling 78,100 shares, a growth of 36.5% from the November 30th total of 57,200 shares. Approximately 0.9% of the shares of the company are short sold. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 82,200 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 1.0 days.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Separately, William Blair reiterated an “outperform” rating on shares of Exagen in a research report on Wednesday, November 13th.

Exagen Stock Performance

NASDAQ:XGN opened at $4.71 on Friday. The company has a 50-day moving average of $3.84 and a 200-day moving average of $2.98. The firm has a market cap of $83.07 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -5.01 and a beta of 1.49. The company has a current ratio of 4.05, a quick ratio of 4.05 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.54. Exagen has a twelve month low of $1.30 and a twelve month high of $6.22.

Exagen (NASDAQ:XGN) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, November 12th. The company reported ($0.28) earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.30) by $0.02. The firm had revenue of $12.51 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $13.55 million. Exagen had a negative net margin of 30.36% and a negative return on equity of 92.58%. During the same period last year, the firm posted ($0.31) earnings per share. Analysts forecast that Exagen will post -0.87 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO John Aballi bought 24,305 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, November 14th. The stock was purchased at an average price of $2.81 per share, for a total transaction of $68,297.05. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 689,799 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,938,335.19. This represents a 3.65 % increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, major shareholder Nmsic Co-Investment Fund, L.P. sold 200,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, November 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $3.30, for a total transaction of $660,000.00. Following the sale, the insider now owns 2,108,958 shares in the company, valued at $6,959,561.40. This trade represents a 8.66 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 26.10% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Exagen

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Verus Capital Partners LLC purchased a new position in Exagen in the 3rd quarter worth about $39,000. Creative Planning acquired a new position in shares of Exagen in the third quarter worth about $110,000. Palumbo Wealth Management LLC increased its position in shares of Exagen by 14.5% in the third quarter. Palumbo Wealth Management LLC now owns 76,364 shares of the company’s stock worth $236,000 after acquiring an additional 9,695 shares in the last quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC raised its holdings in shares of Exagen by 93.3% during the second quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 94,234 shares of the company’s stock valued at $172,000 after acquiring an additional 45,476 shares during the period. Finally, Stonepine Capital Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Exagen by 49.0% in the 3rd quarter. Stonepine Capital Management LLC now owns 534,398 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,651,000 after acquiring an additional 175,701 shares in the last quarter. 75.25% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

About Exagen

Exagen Inc develops and commercializes various testing products under the AVISE brand in the United States. The company enables healthcare providers to care for patients through the diagnosis, prognosis, and monitoring of autoimmune and autoimmune-related diseases, including systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) and rheumatoid arthritis (RA).