Short Interest in Anavex Life Sciences Corp. (NASDAQ:AVXL) Increases By 10.6%

Anavex Life Sciences Corp. (NASDAQ:AVXL) was the target of a significant increase in short interest during the month of March. As of March 31st, there was short interest totalling 22,120,000 shares, an increase of 10.6% from the March 15th total of 20,000,000 shares. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 1,280,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 17.3 days.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Separately, HC Wainwright cut their price objective on shares of Anavex Life Sciences from $54.00 to $40.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, January 3rd.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Anavex Life Sciences news, CEO Christopher U. Missling sold 73,380 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $5.11, for a total value of $374,971.80. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 1,250,210 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,388,573.10. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Corporate insiders own 11.60% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Anavex Life Sciences

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC grew its position in Anavex Life Sciences by 32.9% during the second quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC now owns 5,449 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $44,000 after buying an additional 1,348 shares during the period. Quantbot Technologies LP acquired a new stake in Anavex Life Sciences during the second quarter valued at $64,000. Orion Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in Anavex Life Sciences during the third quarter valued at $59,000. China Universal Asset Management Co. Ltd. grew its position in Anavex Life Sciences by 351.6% during the fourth quarter. China Universal Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 9,498 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $88,000 after buying an additional 7,395 shares during the period. Finally, Belpointe Asset Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Anavex Life Sciences in the fourth quarter valued at about $93,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 31.55% of the company’s stock.

Anavex Life Sciences Price Performance

NASDAQ:AVXL opened at $4.12 on Wednesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $338.29 million, a P/E ratio of -7.63 and a beta of 0.56. Anavex Life Sciences has a 1-year low of $4.06 and a 1-year high of $10.45. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $5.05 and its 200-day moving average price is $6.14.

Anavex Life Sciences (NASDAQ:AVXL) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 7th. The biotechnology company reported ($0.11) earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.15) by $0.04. Equities analysts anticipate that Anavex Life Sciences will post -0.57 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Anavex Life Sciences Company Profile

Anavex Life Sciences Corp., a clinical stage biopharmaceutical company, engages in the development of therapeutics for the treatment of central nervous system diseases. Its lead product candidate is ANAVEX 2-73 for the treatment of Alzheimer's disease and Parkinson's disease, as well as other central nervous system diseases, including rare diseases, such as Rett syndrome, a rare severe neurological monogenic disorder; and infantile spasms, Fragile X syndrome, and Angelman syndrome.