Adaptive Biotechnologies Co. (NASDAQ:ADPT) Sees Large Increase in Short Interest

Adaptive Biotechnologies Co. (NASDAQ:ADPT) was the recipient of a large growth in short interest during the month of March. As of March 31st, there was short interest totalling 9,100,000 shares, a growth of 7.6% from the March 15th total of 8,460,000 shares. Currently, 6.6% of the shares of the stock are short sold. Based on an average daily volume of 1,490,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 6.1 days.

Adaptive Biotechnologies Stock Performance

NASDAQ ADPT traded down $0.17 during trading hours on Tuesday, hitting $2.74. The company had a trading volume of 281,669 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,549,419. Adaptive Biotechnologies has a 1-year low of $2.53 and a 1-year high of $9.08. The company has a market cap of $397.55 million, a PE ratio of -1.71 and a beta of 1.25. The business has a 50 day moving average of $3.46 and a 200-day moving average of $4.12.

Adaptive Biotechnologies (NASDAQ:ADPT) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 14th. The company reported ($0.30) earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($0.32) by $0.02. Adaptive Biotechnologies had a negative return on equity of 53.65% and a negative net margin of 132.29%. The company had revenue of $45.78 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $50.15 million. Sell-side analysts expect that Adaptive Biotechnologies will post -1.31 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at Adaptive Biotechnologies

In other Adaptive Biotechnologies news, SVP Stacy L. Taylor sold 13,381 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $3.43, for a total value of $45,896.83. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 166,287 shares in the company, valued at approximately $570,364.41. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In related news, SVP Stacy L. Taylor sold 13,381 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $3.43, for a total transaction of $45,896.83. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 166,287 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $570,364.41. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, CEO Chad M. Robins sold 48,673 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $3.43, for a total value of $166,948.39. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 2,576,701 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,838,084.43. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 124,307 shares of company stock valued at $428,090. 5.20% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Point72 Middle East FZE purchased a new stake in Adaptive Biotechnologies in the 4th quarter worth approximately $26,000. Meeder Asset Management Inc. raised its stake in shares of Adaptive Biotechnologies by 407.8% in the fourth quarter. Meeder Asset Management Inc. now owns 5,632 shares of the company’s stock worth $43,000 after acquiring an additional 4,523 shares during the last quarter. Personal CFO Solutions LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Adaptive Biotechnologies during the 4th quarter worth approximately $55,000. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. grew its holdings in Adaptive Biotechnologies by 23.2% during the second quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 8,432 shares of the company’s stock valued at $57,000 after purchasing an additional 1,587 shares during the period. Finally, AXQ Capital LP acquired a new position in shares of Adaptive Biotechnologies in the third quarter valued at approximately $58,000. 99.17% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms have recently weighed in on ADPT. BTIG Research reduced their price objective on Adaptive Biotechnologies from $6.00 to $5.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, April 4th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price objective on Adaptive Biotechnologies from $11.00 to $8.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, February 15th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group dropped their price objective on Adaptive Biotechnologies from $11.00 to $5.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, February 16th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $6.80.

About Adaptive Biotechnologies

Adaptive Biotechnologies Corporation, a commercial-stage company, develops an immune medicine platform for the diagnosis and treatment of various diseases. The company offers immunosequencing platform which combines a suite of proprietary chemistry, computational biology, and machine learning to generate clinical immunomics data to decode the adaptive immune system.