Kiora Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:KPRX) Short Interest Up 94.1% in March

Kiora Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:KPRX) was the recipient of a significant growth in short interest in the month of March. As of March 13th, there was short interest totaling 15,786 shares, a growth of 94.1% from the February 26th total of 8,131 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 26,663 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 0.6 days. Approximately 0.4% of the shares of the stock are sold short.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Kiora Pharmaceuticals

A number of institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in KPRX. Alyeska Investment Group L.P. purchased a new stake in shares of Kiora Pharmaceuticals in the fourth quarter valued at $152,000. DRW Securities LLC raised its stake in Kiora Pharmaceuticals by 199.2% in the 4th quarter. DRW Securities LLC now owns 110,282 shares of the company’s stock valued at $217,000 after purchasing an additional 73,417 shares during the last quarter. Citadel Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Kiora Pharmaceuticals in the 3rd quarter valued at about $125,000. Two Sigma Investments LP acquired a new stake in shares of Kiora Pharmaceuticals during the 3rd quarter worth about $33,000. Finally, Renaissance Technologies LLC boosted its stake in shares of Kiora Pharmaceuticals by 71.0% during the 4th quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 21,200 shares of the company’s stock worth $42,000 after purchasing an additional 8,800 shares during the last quarter. 76.97% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Separately, Weiss Ratings restated a “sell (e+)” rating on shares of Kiora Pharmaceuticals in a research report on Wednesday, January 28th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating, one has assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Kiora Pharmaceuticals has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $10.00.

Kiora Pharmaceuticals Stock Down 4.6%

Shares of Kiora Pharmaceuticals stock traded down $0.09 on Friday, hitting $1.88. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 24,776 shares, compared to its average volume of 28,162. The company has a market capitalization of $7.43 million, a P/E ratio of -0.71 and a beta of -0.80. Kiora Pharmaceuticals has a 52-week low of $1.76 and a 52-week high of $4.18. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $2.11 and a 200-day moving average price of $2.24.

Kiora Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:KPRX) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, March 25th. The company reported ($1.60) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.70) by ($0.90). As a group, analysts expect that Kiora Pharmaceuticals will post 1.28 earnings per share for the current year.

About Kiora Pharmaceuticals

Kiora Pharmaceuticals, Inc (NASDAQ: KPRX) is a clinical-stage biotechnology company dedicated to developing innovative therapies for serious eye diseases. The company’s research efforts focus on modulating immune and neurological pathways in the eye to address conditions that currently have limited treatment options. Kiora’s approach combines small-molecule immunomodulators with advanced gene-based and optogenetic technologies to preserve and restore vision.

The company’s lead product candidate, KIO-100 (PP-001), is an intravitreal formulation designed to inhibit key inflammatory pathways implicated in non-infectious uveitis and other autoimmune ocular disorders.