FibroGen, Inc. (NASDAQ:FGEN) Sees Significant Decrease in Short Interest

FibroGen, Inc. (NASDAQ:FGEN) saw a large decrease in short interest in August. As of August 31st, there was short interest totalling 10,810,000 shares, a decrease of 5.7% from the August 15th total of 11,460,000 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 3,950,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 2.7 days. Currently, 11.9% of the shares of the company are short sold.

FibroGen Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ FGEN traded down $0.01 during midday trading on Tuesday, reaching $0.78. 12,853,377 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,312,067. The stock has a market capitalization of $77.00 million, a PE ratio of -0.21 and a beta of 0.55. FibroGen has a one year low of $0.70 and a one year high of $25.69. The company’s 50 day moving average is $1.57 and its 200 day moving average is $11.19.

FibroGen (NASDAQ:FGEN) last posted its earnings results on Monday, August 7th. The biopharmaceutical company reported ($0.65) EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.72) by $0.07. The firm had revenue of $44.32 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $34.17 million. FibroGen had a negative return on equity of 879.75% and a negative net margin of 246.75%. As a group, equities analysts forecast that FibroGen will post -2.47 EPS for the current year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms recently issued reports on FGEN. Bank of America lowered shares of FibroGen from a “neutral” rating to an “underperform” rating and reduced their target price for the stock from $4.00 to $2.00 in a report on Tuesday, August 8th. Raymond James downgraded FibroGen from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research note on Monday, June 26th. William Blair downgraded FibroGen from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research note on Monday, June 26th. StockNews.com began coverage on FibroGen in a research note on Thursday, August 17th. They issued a “hold” rating for the company. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus downgraded FibroGen from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, June 26th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and five have given a hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, FibroGen has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $22.00.

Institutional Trading of FibroGen

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Royal Bank of Canada raised its holdings in FibroGen by 45.3% during the 3rd quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 2,314 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $30,000 after buying an additional 721 shares during the period. Arizona State Retirement System raised its holdings in FibroGen by 2.9% during the 1st quarter. Arizona State Retirement System now owns 25,863 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $483,000 after buying an additional 734 shares during the period. Guggenheim Capital LLC raised its holdings in FibroGen by 5.4% during the 1st quarter. Guggenheim Capital LLC now owns 23,540 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $283,000 after buying an additional 1,203 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc. increased its stake in FibroGen by 5.3% in the fourth quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 24,308 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $389,000 after purchasing an additional 1,222 shares during the period. Finally, Credit Suisse AG increased its stake in FibroGen by 1.9% in the first quarter. Credit Suisse AG now owns 76,259 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $1,423,000 after purchasing an additional 1,444 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 78.34% of the company’s stock.

About FibroGen

FibroGen, Inc, a biopharmaceutical company, discovers, develops, and commercializes therapeutics to treat serious unmet medical needs. Its lead product candidates are Pamrevlumab, a human monoclonal antibody targeting connective tissue growth factor that is in Phase III clinical development for the treatment of idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis, pancreatic cancer, and Duchenne muscular dystrophy; and Roxadustat, an oral small molecule inhibitor of hypoxia-inducible factor prolyl hydroxylase activity, which has completed Phase III clinical development for the treatment of anemia in chronic kidney disease in China, Europe, Japan, and other countries, as well as in Phase III clinical development for anemia related with myelodysplastic syndromes.