Short Interest in Spark Therapeutics Inc (ONCE) Decreases By 56.9%

Spark Therapeutics Inc (NASDAQ:ONCE) was the recipient of a large drop in short interest in the month of February. As of February 28th, there was short interest totalling 2,487,319 shares, a drop of 56.9% from the February 15th total of 5,772,685 shares. Approximately 7.1% of the company’s shares are sold short. Based on an average trading volume of 5,623,886 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 0.4 days.

ONCE has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Credit Suisse Group upgraded Spark Therapeutics from an “underperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and decreased their price target for the stock from $48.00 to $44.00 in a report on Friday, November 16th. Raymond James reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of Spark Therapeutics in a report on Monday, November 26th. William Blair reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of Spark Therapeutics in a report on Monday, December 3rd. Cantor Fitzgerald set a $103.00 price target on Spark Therapeutics and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, December 3rd. Finally, Zacks Investment Research downgraded Spark Therapeutics from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 9th. Seventeen investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, five have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. The stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $77.26.

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Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the company. Alliancebernstein L.P. grew its stake in shares of Spark Therapeutics by 38.3% in the 3rd quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. now owns 531,184 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $28,976,000 after buying an additional 147,158 shares during the period. MetLife Investment Advisors LLC lifted its position in Spark Therapeutics by 55.2% in the 3rd quarter. MetLife Investment Advisors LLC now owns 22,426 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $1,223,000 after acquiring an additional 7,972 shares in the last quarter. Trexquant Investment LP bought a new position in Spark Therapeutics in the 3rd quarter valued at about $881,000. Elk Creek Partners LLC lifted its position in Spark Therapeutics by 107.6% in the 3rd quarter. Elk Creek Partners LLC now owns 215,728 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $11,768,000 after acquiring an additional 111,820 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Bank of Montreal Can lifted its position in Spark Therapeutics by 1,045.4% in the 3rd quarter. Bank of Montreal Can now owns 3,253 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $177,000 after acquiring an additional 2,969 shares in the last quarter.

Shares of ONCE opened at $113.92 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.09, a current ratio of 10.71 and a quick ratio of 10.36. The stock has a market capitalization of $4.33 billion, a PE ratio of -53.99 and a beta of 2.06. Spark Therapeutics has a one year low of $34.53 and a one year high of $114.20.

Spark Therapeutics (NASDAQ:ONCE) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, February 19th. The biotechnology company reported ($1.75) EPS for the quarter, missing the Thomson Reuters’ consensus estimate of ($0.86) by ($0.89). The firm had revenue of $13.15 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $26.76 million. Spark Therapeutics had a negative net margin of 121.78% and a negative return on equity of 14.66%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 47.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned ($1.63) earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Spark Therapeutics will post -4.73 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

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Spark Therapeutics Company Profile

Spark Therapeutics, Inc focuses on the development of gene therapy products for patients suffering from debilitating genetic diseases. Its products include LUXTURNA (voretigene neparvovec), which is in Phase III clinical trial for the treatment of genetic blinding conditions caused by mutations in the RPE65 gene; and SPK-CHM that is in Phase I/II clinical trial for the treatment of choroideremia.

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