HilleVax, Inc. (NASDAQ:HLVX) Short Interest Up 14.8% in June

HilleVax, Inc. (NASDAQ:HLVX) was the recipient of a large growth in short interest in the month of June. As of June 15th, there was short interest totalling 1,550,000 shares, a growth of 14.8% from the May 31st total of 1,350,000 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 177,600 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 8.7 days. Currently, 9.3% of the shares of the company are sold short.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Director Aditya Kohli sold 6,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, April 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $14.44, for a total value of $86,640.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 789,776 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $11,404,365.44. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In other news, major shareholder Life Sciences X. L.P. Frazier bought 8,850 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, April 4th. The shares were acquired at an average price of $14.50 per share, with a total value of $128,325.00. Following the acquisition, the insider now owns 8,544,187 shares in the company, valued at $123,890,711.50. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, Director Aditya Kohli sold 6,000 shares of HilleVax stock in a transaction dated Friday, April 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $14.44, for a total transaction of $86,640.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 789,776 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $11,404,365.44. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 18,898 shares of company stock worth $280,406 in the last quarter. 71.10% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On HilleVax

Several hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Tidal Investments LLC bought a new position in HilleVax during the first quarter worth about $207,000. EntryPoint Capital LLC bought a new stake in shares of HilleVax in the first quarter valued at approximately $80,000. Catalys Pacific LLC acquired a new stake in HilleVax during the fourth quarter worth approximately $21,009,000. Franklin Resources Inc. increased its stake in HilleVax by 4.1% during the 4th quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 1,846,396 shares of the company’s stock worth $29,635,000 after acquiring an additional 71,938 shares during the period. Finally, Swiss National Bank raised its holdings in HilleVax by 22.4% in the 4th quarter. Swiss National Bank now owns 38,200 shares of the company’s stock valued at $613,000 after acquiring an additional 7,000 shares in the last quarter. 86.42% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

HilleVax Stock Performance

Shares of HilleVax stock traded down $0.18 on Wednesday, reaching $14.10. 18,157 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 160,563. HilleVax has a one year low of $9.94 and a one year high of $20.22. The company has a current ratio of 10.92, a quick ratio of 10.92 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.11. The company has a 50-day moving average of $13.65 and a 200 day moving average of $14.89.

HilleVax (NASDAQ:HLVX) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, May 9th. The company reported ($0.97) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.84) by ($0.13). As a group, sell-side analysts expect that HilleVax will post -3.14 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

HLVX has been the subject of a number of research reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on shares of HilleVax from $21.00 to $24.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 15th. HC Wainwright restated a “buy” rating and set a $28.00 target price on shares of HilleVax in a research report on Friday, May 10th.

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.