Short Interest in Viracta Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VIRX) Expands By 89.9%

Viracta Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VIRX) saw a significant growth in short interest in December. As of December 15th, there was short interest totalling 3,000,000 shares, a growth of 89.9% from the November 30th total of 1,580,000 shares. Approximately 10.7% of the company’s shares are short sold. Based on an average trading volume of 2,140,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 1.4 days.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms recently weighed in on VIRX. Royal Bank of Canada reduced their target price on shares of Viracta Therapeutics from $4.00 to $2.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, November 14th. Rodman & Renshaw reiterated a “neutral” rating and issued a $0.25 target price (down previously from $3.50) on shares of Viracta Therapeutics in a research note on Friday. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Viracta Therapeutics currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $4.05.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Viracta Therapeutics

A hedge fund recently bought a new stake in Viracta Therapeutics stock. Stonepine Capital Management LLC bought a new stake in Viracta Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VIRX) during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor bought 500,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $116,000. Stonepine Capital Management LLC owned approximately 1.27% of Viracta Therapeutics as of its most recent filing with the SEC. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 31.37% of the company’s stock.

Viracta Therapeutics Price Performance

Viracta Therapeutics stock traded down $0.08 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $0.16. 9,373,380 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 808,326. Viracta Therapeutics has a 1 year low of $0.13 and a 1 year high of $1.31. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $0.19 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $0.31. The firm has a market cap of $6.36 million, a P/E ratio of -0.15 and a beta of 0.67.

About Viracta Therapeutics

Viracta Therapeutics, Inc, a clinical-stage precision oncology company, focuses on the treatment and prevention of virus-associated cancers that impact patients worldwide. Its lead product candidate is Nana-val, an all-oral combination therapy of its proprietary investigational drug, nanatinostat, and the antiviral agent valganciclovir.