Short Interest in Adaptimmune Therapeutics plc (NASDAQ:ADAP) Expands By 31.0%

Adaptimmune Therapeutics plc (NASDAQ:ADAP) was the recipient of a large growth in short interest in May. As of May 15th, there was short interest totalling 5,830,000 shares, a growth of 31.0% from the April 30th total of 4,450,000 shares. Approximately 2.6% of the shares of the stock are sold short. Based on an average daily volume of 1,940,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 3.0 days.

Adaptimmune Therapeutics Price Performance

ADAP stock opened at $0.27 on Monday. Adaptimmune Therapeutics has a 52-week low of $0.20 and a 52-week high of $1.48. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $0.26 and its 200-day simple moving average is $0.47. The company has a quick ratio of 3.82, a current ratio of 3.85 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.62. The stock has a market capitalization of $69.30 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -1.20 and a beta of 2.86.

Adaptimmune Therapeutics (NASDAQ:ADAP) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, May 13th. The biotechnology company reported ($0.18) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of ($0.18). Adaptimmune Therapeutics had a negative return on equity of 74.15% and a negative net margin of 25.43%. The business had revenue of $7.29 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $6.55 million. Equities research analysts expect that Adaptimmune Therapeutics will post -0.14 EPS for the current year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Adaptimmune Therapeutics

Several hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Two Sigma Investments LP boosted its holdings in shares of Adaptimmune Therapeutics by 33.5% during the fourth quarter. Two Sigma Investments LP now owns 76,347 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $41,000 after purchasing an additional 19,146 shares during the last quarter. Virtu Financial LLC raised its position in shares of Adaptimmune Therapeutics by 21.5% in the 4th quarter. Virtu Financial LLC now owns 122,696 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $66,000 after buying an additional 21,688 shares during the period. Invesco Ltd. raised its position in shares of Adaptimmune Therapeutics by 82.0% in the 4th quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 63,335 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $34,000 after buying an additional 28,526 shares during the period. Rock Springs Capital Management LP raised its position in shares of Adaptimmune Therapeutics by 2.4% in the 4th quarter. Rock Springs Capital Management LP now owns 2,483,468 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $1,338,000 after buying an additional 58,000 shares during the period. Finally, Two Sigma Advisers LP raised its position in shares of Adaptimmune Therapeutics by 492.0% in the 4th quarter. Two Sigma Advisers LP now owns 70,735 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $38,000 after buying an additional 58,787 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 31.37% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have commented on the company. Scotiabank lowered their target price on Adaptimmune Therapeutics from $3.15 to $1.40 and set a “sector outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, March 21st. Wall Street Zen assumed coverage on Adaptimmune Therapeutics in a report on Friday, May 16th. They set a “buy” rating on the stock. Barclays lowered their target price on Adaptimmune Therapeutics from $1.00 to $0.46 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, May 14th. HC Wainwright lowered their target price on Adaptimmune Therapeutics from $3.50 to $3.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, April 1st. Finally, Jones Trading cut Adaptimmune Therapeutics from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, April 11th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Adaptimmune Therapeutics has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $1.52.

Adaptimmune Therapeutics Company Profile

Adaptimmune Therapeutics plc, a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company, provides novel cell therapies primarily to cancer patients in the United States and the United Kingdom. It develops SPEARHEAD-1 that is in phase II clinical trials with ADP-A2M4 for synovial sarcoma; SURPASS-3 that is in phase II clinical trial with ADP-A2M4CD8 for people with platinum resistant ovarian cancer; and SURPASS that is in phase I clinical trials in patients with head and neck, and urothelial cancers.