Short Interest in Vanda Pharmaceuticals Inc. (NASDAQ:VNDA) Declines By 17.0%

Vanda Pharmaceuticals Inc. (NASDAQ:VNDA) was the recipient of a significant decrease in short interest during the month of March. As of March 31st, there was short interest totalling 2,490,000 shares, a decrease of 17.0% from the March 15th total of 3,000,000 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 1,860,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 1.3 days. Approximately 4.6% of the company’s shares are short sold.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms recently commented on VNDA. StockNews.com cut Vanda Pharmaceuticals from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, April 6th. TheStreet cut Vanda Pharmaceuticals from a “c-” rating to a “d” rating in a report on Thursday, February 8th.

Vanda Pharmaceuticals Stock Down 3.7 %

Shares of NASDAQ VNDA opened at $4.12 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $237.06 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 82.22 and a beta of 0.76. Vanda Pharmaceuticals has a 52-week low of $3.30 and a 52-week high of $7.00. The business’s 50 day moving average is $4.14 and its two-hundred day moving average is $4.06.

Vanda Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:VNDA) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, February 7th. The biopharmaceutical company reported ($0.04) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.09) by $0.05. The company had revenue of $45.27 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $37.00 million. Vanda Pharmaceuticals had a return on equity of 0.46% and a net margin of 1.30%. Analysts anticipate that Vanda Pharmaceuticals will post -0.06 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Trading of Vanda Pharmaceuticals

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. BlackRock Inc. raised its position in Vanda Pharmaceuticals by 7.0% in the second quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 10,810,016 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $71,238,000 after purchasing an additional 711,086 shares during the period. State Street Corp raised its position in Vanda Pharmaceuticals by 22.1% in the first quarter. State Street Corp now owns 4,551,912 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $30,907,000 after purchasing an additional 824,114 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in Vanda Pharmaceuticals by 1.5% in the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 3,894,554 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $38,478,000 after purchasing an additional 56,822 shares during the period. Renaissance Technologies LLC increased its position in shares of Vanda Pharmaceuticals by 1.6% during the first quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 2,935,225 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $19,930,000 after acquiring an additional 45,800 shares during the period. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its position in shares of Vanda Pharmaceuticals by 11.3% during the first quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 2,263,159 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $25,597,000 after acquiring an additional 229,581 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 88.14% of the company’s stock.

About Vanda Pharmaceuticals

Vanda Pharmaceuticals Inc, a biopharmaceutical company, focuses on the development and commercialization of therapies to address high unmet medical needs worldwide. The company's marketed products include HETLIOZ to treat non-24-hour sleep-wake disorders; and Fanapt oral tablets for the treatment of schizophrenia.