OPKO Health, Inc. (NASDAQ:OPK) Short Interest Up 24.1% in March

OPKO Health, Inc. (NASDAQ:OPK) was the target of a large growth in short interest in March. As of March 15th, there was short interest totalling 111,000,000 shares, a growth of 24.1% from the February 28th total of 89,470,000 shares. Currently, 36.6% of the shares of the stock are short sold. Based on an average daily volume of 4,640,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 23.9 days.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

OPK has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. HC Wainwright reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $3.00 price target on shares of OPKO Health in a research note on Wednesday, March 19th. Barrington Research reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $2.25 target price on shares of OPKO Health in a research report on Wednesday, March 12th. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded shares of OPKO Health from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, March 3rd.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO Phillip Md Et Al Frost bought 100,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, April 1st. The shares were bought at an average cost of $1.65 per share, with a total value of $165,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 213,751,448 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $352,689,889.20. This trade represents a 0.05 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Insiders have acquired 1,214,971 shares of company stock worth $1,913,692 in the last ninety days. 49.69% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of OPKO Health

A number of institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of OPK. Millennium Management LLC raised its stake in shares of OPKO Health by 85.3% during the 4th quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 4,588,526 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $6,745,000 after purchasing an additional 2,112,382 shares in the last quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC raised its position in OPKO Health by 143.6% during the fourth quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC now owns 2,548,667 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $3,746,000 after acquiring an additional 1,502,342 shares in the last quarter. Altshuler Shaham Ltd bought a new position in OPKO Health during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $2,082,000. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in OPKO Health in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $1,657,000. Finally, Two Sigma Investments LP grew its position in OPKO Health by 136.1% in the fourth quarter. Two Sigma Investments LP now owns 1,647,567 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $2,422,000 after acquiring an additional 949,671 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 64.63% of the company’s stock.

OPKO Health Stock Performance

NASDAQ OPK remained flat at $1.66 during trading on Tuesday. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 2,570,780 shares, compared to its average volume of 4,070,057. The company has a quick ratio of 2.69, a current ratio of 2.97 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.30. OPKO Health has a 12-month low of $1.15 and a 12-month high of $2.04. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $1.69 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $1.58. The company has a market capitalization of $1.11 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -8.74 and a beta of 1.70.

OPKO Health (NASDAQ:OPK) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 27th. The biotechnology company reported $0.01 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of ($0.08) by $0.09. OPKO Health had a negative net margin of 18.65% and a negative return on equity of 9.76%. The business had revenue of $183.60 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $155.42 million. Equities analysts forecast that OPKO Health will post -0.25 EPS for the current fiscal year.

OPKO Health Company Profile

OPKO Health, Inc, a healthcare company, engages in the diagnostics and pharmaceuticals businesses in the United States, Ireland, Chile, Spain, Israel, Mexico, and internationally. The company's Diagnostics segment operates BioReference Laboratories that offers laboratory testing services for the detection, diagnosis, evaluation, monitoring, and treatment of diseases, including esoteric testing, molecular diagnostics, anatomical pathology, genetics, women's health, and correctional healthcare to physician offices, clinics, hospitals, employers, and governmental units; and 4Kscore prostate cancer test.