Celcuity, Inc. (NASDAQ:CELC) Short Interest Up 29.3% in July

Celcuity, Inc. (NASDAQ:CELC) saw a significant increase in short interest in the month of July. As of July 31st, there was short interest totaling 3,090,000 shares, anincreaseof29.3% from the July 15th total of 2,390,000 shares. Approximately9.4% of the shares of the company are sold short. Based on an average daily volume of 947,800 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 3.3 days. Based on an average daily volume of 947,800 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 3.3 days. Approximately9.4% of the shares of the company are sold short.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, Director David Dalvey sold 100,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, July 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $43.98, for a total transaction of $4,398,000.00. Following the transaction, the director owned 125,000 shares in the company, valued at $5,497,500. This represents a 44.44% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. 15.77% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Celcuity

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of CELC. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised its position in shares of Celcuity by 22.3% during the 4th quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 14,683 shares of the company’s stock valued at $192,000 after purchasing an additional 2,676 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its position in shares of Celcuity by 9.8% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 692,372 shares of the company’s stock valued at $9,065,000 after purchasing an additional 62,003 shares during the period. Wells Fargo & Company MN raised its position in shares of Celcuity by 81.7% during the 4th quarter. Wells Fargo & Company MN now owns 15,515 shares of the company’s stock valued at $203,000 after purchasing an additional 6,976 shares during the period. Summit Investment Advisors Inc. raised its position in shares of Celcuity by 49.5% during the 4th quarter. Summit Investment Advisors Inc. now owns 3,421 shares of the company’s stock valued at $45,000 after purchasing an additional 1,132 shares during the period. Finally, Barclays PLC raised its position in shares of Celcuity by 6.7% during the 4th quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 57,199 shares of the company’s stock valued at $749,000 after purchasing an additional 3,594 shares during the period. 63.33% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on CELC. Needham & Company LLC lowered their price objective on shares of Celcuity from $74.00 to $70.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, August 15th. Leerink Partners increased their price objective on shares of Celcuity from $28.00 to $60.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, July 28th. Stifel Nicolaus assumed coverage on shares of Celcuity in a research report on Tuesday, July 1st. They issued a “buy” rating and a $30.00 price target on the stock. Finally, HC Wainwright increased their price target on shares of Celcuity from $50.00 to $66.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $50.60.

Celcuity Stock Up 4.0%

CELC opened at $52.42 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 4.58, a quick ratio of 6.61 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.24. Celcuity has a 1-year low of $7.57 and a 1-year high of $53.85. The company has a market capitalization of $2.22 billion, a PE ratio of -15.19 and a beta of 0.68. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $26.23 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $16.09.

Celcuity (NASDAQ:CELC) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 14th. The company reported ($1.04) earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($0.90) by ($0.14). As a group, equities analysts forecast that Celcuity will post -2.62 EPS for the current year.

About Celcuity

Celcuity Inc, a clinical stage biotechnology company, focuses on the development of targeted therapies for the treatment of various solid tumors in the United States. The company's CELsignia diagnostic platform uses a patient's living tumor cells to identify the specific abnormal cellular process driving a patient's cancer and the related targeted therapy for the treatment.