ESSA Pharma Inc. (NASDAQ:EPIX) Sees Large Increase in Short Interest

ESSA Pharma Inc. (NASDAQ:EPIX) (TSE:EPI) was the recipient of a significant increase in short interest in the month of December. As of December 15th, there was short interest totalling 951,500 shares, an increase of 37.6% from the November 30th total of 691,500 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 874,500 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 1.1 days.

ESSA Pharma Trading Up 2.9 %

Shares of EPIX stock traded up $0.05 during trading hours on Monday, hitting $1.80. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 1,860,430 shares, compared to its average volume of 307,796. The business has a fifty day moving average of $2.31 and a 200-day moving average of $4.38. ESSA Pharma has a twelve month low of $1.40 and a twelve month high of $11.67. The stock has a market cap of $79.90 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -2.90 and a beta of 1.62.

ESSA Pharma (NASDAQ:EPIX) (TSE:EPI) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, December 17th. The company reported ($0.14) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.19) by $0.05. On average, equities analysts expect that ESSA Pharma will post -0.7 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at ESSA Pharma

In other ESSA Pharma news, major shareholder Growth N. V. Biotech sold 7,879,583 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, November 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $1.53, for a total value of $12,055,761.99. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. 14.70% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On ESSA Pharma

A hedge fund recently raised its stake in ESSA Pharma stock. RTW Investments LP lifted its position in shares of ESSA Pharma Inc. (NASDAQ:EPIX) (TSE:EPI) by 41.9% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 3,261,496 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 962,834 shares during the period. RTW Investments LP owned approximately 7.35% of ESSA Pharma worth $19,765,000 as of its most recent SEC filing. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 75.12% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts recently commented on the stock. Oppenheimer cut shares of ESSA Pharma from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research note on Monday, November 4th. Jefferies Financial Group lowered ESSA Pharma from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, November 4th. Finally, Piper Sandler downgraded ESSA Pharma from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and dropped their price objective for the company from $15.00 to $2.00 in a research note on Monday, November 4th.

ESSA Pharma Company Profile

ESSA Pharma Inc, a clinical stage pharmaceutical company, focuses the development of small molecule drugs for the treatment of prostate cancer. The company’s lead candidate EPI-7386, an androgen receptor based resistance mechanisms that develop in patients with castration-resistant prostate cancer and metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer.