Short Interest in HilleVax, Inc. (NASDAQ:HLVX) Decreases By 5.6%

HilleVax, Inc. (NASDAQ:HLVX) was the recipient of a large decline in short interest in the month of September. As of September 15th, there was short interest totalling 1,860,000 shares, a decline of 5.6% from the August 31st total of 1,970,000 shares. Approximately 10.2% of the company’s shares are short sold. Based on an average trading volume of 1,110,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 1.7 days.

HilleVax Stock Performance

Shares of HilleVax stock remained flat at $1.76 on Monday. The stock had a trading volume of 83,530 shares, compared to its average volume of 486,506. HilleVax has a fifty-two week low of $1.55 and a fifty-two week high of $20.22. The stock has a market capitalization of $87.51 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -0.53 and a beta of 0.81. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $1.80 and a 200-day moving average price of $8.94.

HilleVax (NASDAQ:HLVX) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, August 8th. The company reported ($0.83) EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($0.73) by ($0.10). Research analysts forecast that HilleVax will post -2.47 earnings per share for the current year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On HilleVax

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in HLVX. EntryPoint Capital LLC purchased a new position in HilleVax in the 1st quarter worth about $80,000. Swiss National Bank boosted its position in HilleVax by 22.4% during the fourth quarter. Swiss National Bank now owns 38,200 shares of the company’s stock worth $613,000 after purchasing an additional 7,000 shares during the period. Rhumbline Advisers increased its stake in shares of HilleVax by 27.0% in the second quarter. Rhumbline Advisers now owns 42,658 shares of the company’s stock worth $617,000 after purchasing an additional 9,073 shares during the period. Fred Alger Management LLC grew its stake in shares of HilleVax by 9.7% in the second quarter. Fred Alger Management LLC now owns 136,166 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,969,000 after acquiring an additional 12,044 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Tidal Investments LLC acquired a new stake in HilleVax in the 1st quarter worth $207,000. Institutional investors own 86.42% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts have recently commented on the stock. Stifel Nicolaus downgraded shares of HilleVax from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and dropped their price objective for the company from $34.00 to $3.00 in a research note on Tuesday, July 9th. HC Wainwright reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and issued a $2.00 target price on shares of HilleVax in a research report on Monday, August 12th. Leerink Partnrs lowered shares of HilleVax from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 9th. Leerink Partners lowered HilleVax from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and lowered their price objective for the company from $28.00 to $2.00 in a research note on Tuesday, July 9th. Finally, Guggenheim downgraded shares of HilleVax from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, July 8th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, Based on data from MarketBeat, HilleVax currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $9.20.

About HilleVax

HilleVax, Inc, a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company, focuses on developing and commercializing novel vaccines in the United States. It develops HIL-214, a virus-like particle-based vaccine candidate for the prevention of moderate-to-severe acute gastroenteritis caused by norovirus infection. The company was formerly known as MokshaCo, Inc and changed its name to HilleVax, Inc in February 2021.