Short Interest in Inovio Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:INO) Rises By 9.5%

Inovio Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:INO) saw a large growth in short interest in the month of September. As of September 30th, there was short interest totalling 3,340,000 shares, a growth of 9.5% from the September 15th total of 3,050,000 shares. Approximately 13.0% of the company’s shares are sold short. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 329,200 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 10.1 days.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have recently issued reports on INO. Royal Bank of Canada cut their price target on Inovio Pharmaceuticals from $8.00 to $7.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, October 4th. Oppenheimer cut their target price on shares of Inovio Pharmaceuticals from $40.00 to $33.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, August 12th. Finally, HC Wainwright reiterated a “neutral” rating and set a $15.00 price target on shares of Inovio Pharmaceuticals in a research report on Monday, July 15th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Inovio Pharmaceuticals presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $43.80.

Inovio Pharmaceuticals Trading Up 2.9 %

NASDAQ INO opened at $5.74 on Thursday. Inovio Pharmaceuticals has a 12 month low of $3.89 and a 12 month high of $14.75. The company has a market capitalization of $148.73 million, a PE ratio of -1.55 and a beta of 0.82. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $6.70 and a 200 day simple moving average of $9.07.

Inovio Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:INO) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 8th. The biopharmaceutical company reported ($1.19) earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of ($1.10) by ($0.09). The company had revenue of $0.10 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $0.10 million. During the same quarter last year, the company earned ($1.56) EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Inovio Pharmaceuticals will post -4.64 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Inovio Pharmaceuticals

Hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Susquehanna Fundamental Investments LLC acquired a new stake in Inovio Pharmaceuticals during the 1st quarter worth $1,482,000. Bank of New York Mellon Corp bought a new stake in shares of Inovio Pharmaceuticals in the second quarter worth about $661,000. Signature Estate & Investment Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Inovio Pharmaceuticals during the second quarter worth about $88,000. Rhumbline Advisers lifted its holdings in shares of Inovio Pharmaceuticals by 5,943.0% during the 2nd quarter. Rhumbline Advisers now owns 38,494 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $311,000 after purchasing an additional 37,857 shares in the last quarter. Finally, American Century Companies Inc. grew its position in shares of Inovio Pharmaceuticals by 62.2% in the 2nd quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 31,565 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $255,000 after purchasing an additional 12,100 shares during the period. 26.79% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

About Inovio Pharmaceuticals

Inovio Pharmaceuticals, Inc, a biotechnology company, focuses on the discovery, development, and commercialization of DNA medicines to treat and protect people from diseases associated with human papillomavirus (HPV), cancer, and infectious diseases. Its DNA medicines platform uses precisely designed SynCon that identify and optimize the DNA sequence of the target antigen, as well as CELLECTRA smart devices technology that facilitates delivery of the DNA plasmids.