Humacyte, Inc. (NASDAQ:HUMA) Sees Large Increase in Short Interest

Humacyte, Inc. (NASDAQ:HUMA) saw a significant growth in short interest during the month of September. As of September 30th, there was short interest totalling 16,030,000 shares, a growth of 14.4% from the September 15th total of 14,010,000 shares. Currently, 16.4% of the shares of the stock are short sold. Based on an average daily volume of 3,130,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 5.1 days.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts recently issued reports on the company. Benchmark reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $15.00 price objective on shares of Humacyte in a research note on Thursday, October 10th. EF Hutton Acquisition Co. I upgraded Humacyte to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, September 9th. BTIG Research upped their price objective on shares of Humacyte from $8.00 to $11.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, July 15th. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald reissued an “overweight” rating and set a $13.00 target price on shares of Humacyte in a research report on Friday, September 20th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, four have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $9.80.

Humacyte Stock Up 1.9 %

Humacyte stock traded up $0.11 during trading hours on Wednesday, reaching $5.81. The stock had a trading volume of 3,740,722 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,260,759. Humacyte has a 52 week low of $1.96 and a 52 week high of $9.97. The company has a market cap of $691.88 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -5.89 and a beta of 1.45. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61, a current ratio of 5.41 and a quick ratio of 5.41. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $5.94 and its 200-day moving average price is $5.88.

Humacyte (NASDAQ:HUMA) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, August 13th. The company reported ($0.27) earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($0.23) by ($0.04). Sell-side analysts anticipate that Humacyte will post -1.09 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Humacyte news, Director Brady W. Dougan sold 352,112 shares of Humacyte stock in a transaction on Thursday, August 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $6.35, for a total transaction of $2,235,911.20. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 3,677,262 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $23,350,613.70. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. In other news, CEO Laura E. Niklason sold 277,090 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, August 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $6.47, for a total value of $1,792,772.30. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 4,029,374 shares in the company, valued at approximately $26,070,049.78. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Director Brady W. Dougan sold 352,112 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, August 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $6.35, for a total transaction of $2,235,911.20. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 3,677,262 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $23,350,613.70. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 1,084,153 shares of company stock worth $6,869,996. Insiders own 23.10% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in HUMA. nVerses Capital LLC acquired a new position in shares of Humacyte during the second quarter valued at about $28,000. China Universal Asset Management Co. Ltd. lifted its stake in shares of Humacyte by 65.9% during the first quarter. China Universal Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 19,883 shares of the company’s stock worth $62,000 after buying an additional 7,897 shares during the period. Hartline Investment Corp acquired a new position in shares of Humacyte in the 1st quarter valued at $70,000. Principal Financial Group Inc. purchased a new position in Humacyte in the 2nd quarter worth $83,000. Finally, Profund Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Humacyte during the 2nd quarter worth about $97,000. 44.71% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

About Humacyte

Humacyte, Inc engages in the development and manufacture of off-the-shelf, implantable, and bioengineered human tissues for the treatment of diseases and conditions across a range of anatomic locations in multiple therapeutic areas. The company using its proprietary and scientific technology platform to engineer and manufacture human acellular vessels (HAVs) to be implanted into patient without inducing a foreign body response or leading to immune rejection.