Janux Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:JANX) Short Interest Up 19.8% in December

Janux Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:JANX) was the target of a large increase in short interest during the month of December. As of December 31st, there was short interest totalling 7,680,000 shares, an increase of 19.8% from the December 15th total of 6,410,000 shares. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 1,050,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 7.3 days. Currently, 16.4% of the shares of the company are short sold.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms recently issued reports on JANX. Stifel Nicolaus increased their target price on shares of Janux Therapeutics from $70.00 to $115.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, December 3rd. William Blair restated an “outperform” rating on shares of Janux Therapeutics in a research note on Friday, January 10th. Lifesci Capital raised shares of Janux Therapeutics to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, December 27th. Leerink Partners lifted their price target on shares of Janux Therapeutics from $79.00 to $91.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, December 3rd. Finally, Scotiabank raised their price target on Janux Therapeutics from $42.00 to $62.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 4th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, ten have given a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $89.90.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, insider Andrew Hollman Meyer sold 13,334 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, January 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $54.88, for a total transaction of $731,769.92. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 82,139 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,507,788.32. This represents a 13.97 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, CEO David Alan Campbell sold 25,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $51.60, for a total transaction of $1,290,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 257,054 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $13,263,986.40. This represents a 8.86 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 108,334 shares of company stock valued at $6,070,020. 29.40% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Janux Therapeutics

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. FMR LLC increased its position in shares of Janux Therapeutics by 0.6% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 7,824,675 shares of the company’s stock worth $355,475,000 after purchasing an additional 47,075 shares in the last quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC grew its holdings in shares of Janux Therapeutics by 40.0% during the third quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 2,523,406 shares of the company’s stock worth $114,587,000 after buying an additional 721,563 shares during the last quarter. Logos Global Management LP grew its holdings in shares of Janux Therapeutics by 400.0% during the second quarter. Logos Global Management LP now owns 750,000 shares of the company’s stock worth $31,418,000 after buying an additional 600,000 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Janux Therapeutics by 6.2% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 662,594 shares of the company’s stock worth $30,107,000 after buying an additional 38,490 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Point72 Asset Management L.P. grew its holdings in shares of Janux Therapeutics by 190.2% during the third quarter. Point72 Asset Management L.P. now owns 395,875 shares of the company’s stock worth $17,985,000 after buying an additional 259,445 shares during the last quarter. 75.39% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Janux Therapeutics Trading Up 0.3 %

NASDAQ:JANX traded up $0.11 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $40.72. The company had a trading volume of 802,219 shares, compared to its average volume of 815,856. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.14 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -34.80 and a beta of 3.23. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $53.09 and its 200-day simple moving average is $48.34. Janux Therapeutics has a 12-month low of $7.79 and a 12-month high of $71.71.

Janux Therapeutics (NASDAQ:JANX) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, November 6th. The company reported ($0.51) earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.33) by ($0.18). Janux Therapeutics had a negative net margin of 463.91% and a negative return on equity of 10.47%. The business had revenue of $0.44 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.50 million. The business’s revenue was down 82.6% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Janux Therapeutics will post -1.38 EPS for the current year.

About Janux Therapeutics

Janux Therapeutics, Inc, a clinical stage biopharmaceutical company, develops immunotherapies based on Tumor Activated T Cell Engagers (TRACTr) and Tumor Activated Immunomodulators (TRACIr) platforms technology to treat patients suffering from cancer. The company's clinical candidates comprise JANX007, a prostate-specific membrane antigen or PSMA-TRACTr, which is in Phase 1 clinical trial in adults for the treatment of metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer (mCRPC) and the vasculature of other tumors; and JANX008, an epidermal growth factor receptor or EGFR-TRACTr that is in Phase 1 clinical trial for the treatment of multiple solid cancers, including colorectal cancer, squamous cell carcinoma of the head and neck, non-small cell lung cancer, and renal cell carcinoma.