Spruce Biosciences, Inc. (NASDAQ:SPRB) Sees Large Drop in Short Interest

Spruce Biosciences, Inc. (NASDAQ:SPRB) was the target of a large drop in short interest in April. As of April 15th, there was short interest totalling 164,000 shares, a drop of 48.8% from the March 31st total of 320,400 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 1,320,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 0.1 days. Approximately 0.7% of the company’s stock are short sold.

Insider Transactions at Spruce Biosciences

In related news, major shareholder Holdings A/S Novo sold 1,912,316 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $0.89, for a total value of $1,701,961.24. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 4,810,020 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,280,917.80. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 3,114,315 shares of company stock valued at $2,613,101. Corporate insiders own 9.10% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Spruce Biosciences

A number of large investors have recently modified their holdings of SPRB. Worth Venture Partners LLC grew its holdings in Spruce Biosciences by 8.8% during the third quarter. Worth Venture Partners LLC now owns 302,074 shares of the company’s stock worth $683,000 after acquiring an additional 24,450 shares during the period. AIGH Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Spruce Biosciences by 9.0% in the 3rd quarter. AIGH Capital Management LLC now owns 1,211,000 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,737,000 after purchasing an additional 100,000 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Superstring Capital Management LP acquired a new stake in shares of Spruce Biosciences in the fourth quarter valued at about $348,000. 91.71% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have issued reports on SPRB. Leerink Partnrs downgraded shares of Spruce Biosciences from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 14th. Guggenheim downgraded Spruce Biosciences from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 14th. JMP Securities reduced their price objective on Spruce Biosciences from $8.00 to $3.00 and set a “market outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, March 14th. LADENBURG THALM/SH SH downgraded Spruce Biosciences from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, March 14th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada cut shares of Spruce Biosciences from an “outperform” rating to a “sector perform” rating and cut their target price for the company from $9.00 to $2.00 in a report on Thursday, March 14th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $5.67.

Spruce Biosciences Stock Performance

Shares of Spruce Biosciences stock remained flat at $0.70 during trading hours on Friday. The stock had a trading volume of 211,577 shares, compared to its average volume of 675,708. The company has a quick ratio of 4.18, a current ratio of 4.18 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.02. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $2.35 and a 200-day simple moving average of $2.23. Spruce Biosciences has a twelve month low of $0.67 and a twelve month high of $5.95. The firm has a market capitalization of $28.81 million, a PE ratio of -0.56 and a beta of 2.52.

Spruce Biosciences (NASDAQ:SPRB) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, March 13th. The company reported ($0.23) EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.41) by $0.18. The company had revenue of $2.89 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.65 million. Spruce Biosciences had a negative net margin of 474.96% and a negative return on equity of 52.31%. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Spruce Biosciences will post -1.33 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Spruce Biosciences Company Profile

Spruce Biosciences, Inc, a biopharmaceutical company, focuses on developing and commercializing novel therapies for rare endocrine disorders. The company engages in developing tildacerfont, a non-steroidal therapy to enhance disease control and reduce steroid burden for patients suffering from congenital adrenal hyperplasia (CAH), which is in Phase 2b clinical trial; and to evaluate glucocorticoid reduction in adult patients with classic CAH that is Phase 2b clinical trial.