Deciphera Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:DCPH) Sees Significant Decline in Short Interest

Deciphera Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:DCPH) was the target of a significant drop in short interest in April. As of April 15th, there was short interest totalling 5,750,000 shares, a drop of 5.1% from the March 31st total of 6,060,000 shares. Currently, 11.5% of the company’s stock are sold short. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 525,500 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 10.9 days.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

DCPH has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Stifel Nicolaus raised their price target on shares of Deciphera Pharmaceuticals from $22.00 to $23.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 7th. JMP Securities restated a “market perform” rating on shares of Deciphera Pharmaceuticals in a research note on Tuesday. Barclays upgraded Deciphera Pharmaceuticals from an “underweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and raised their price objective for the stock from $9.00 to $26.00 in a research note on Tuesday. Guggenheim restated a “neutral” rating on shares of Deciphera Pharmaceuticals in a research note on Tuesday. Finally, Jonestrading restated a “hold” rating and set a $25.60 price objective on shares of Deciphera Pharmaceuticals in a research note on Monday. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $24.17.

Deciphera Pharmaceuticals Stock Performance

DCPH stock opened at $25.36 on Thursday. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.09 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -11.07 and a beta of 0.39. Deciphera Pharmaceuticals has a 1 year low of $9.90 and a 1 year high of $25.40. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $16.18 and its two-hundred day moving average is $14.63.

Deciphera Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:DCPH) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, February 6th. The company reported ($0.54) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.58) by $0.04. The company had revenue of $48.30 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $45.93 million. Deciphera Pharmaceuticals had a negative return on equity of 49.44% and a negative net margin of 119.33%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 32.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business posted ($0.60) earnings per share. As a group, analysts predict that Deciphera Pharmaceuticals will post -2.16 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Deciphera Pharmaceuticals

A number of hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Capstone Investment Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Deciphera Pharmaceuticals in the first quarter valued at $353,000. China Universal Asset Management Co. Ltd. raised its stake in shares of Deciphera Pharmaceuticals by 67.3% during the first quarter. China Universal Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 15,513 shares of the company’s stock valued at $244,000 after purchasing an additional 6,241 shares in the last quarter. Diversified Trust Co raised its stake in shares of Deciphera Pharmaceuticals by 6.5% during the first quarter. Diversified Trust Co now owns 12,747 shares of the company’s stock valued at $201,000 after purchasing an additional 778 shares in the last quarter. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Deciphera Pharmaceuticals during the first quarter valued at about $291,000. Finally, Fisher Asset Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Deciphera Pharmaceuticals during the fourth quarter valued at about $1,006,000. 70.96% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

About Deciphera Pharmaceuticals

Deciphera Pharmaceuticals, Inc, a biopharmaceutical company, develops drugs to enhance the lives of cancer patients by addressing key mechanisms of drug resistance that limit the rate and durability of response to existing cancer therapies in the United States and internationally. Its lead drug candidate is QINLOCK used for the treatment of gastrointestinal stromal tumors (GIST), as well as in INTRIGUE Phase 3 study to treat second-line GIST.