89bio, Inc. (NASDAQ:ETNB) Short Interest Up 5.2% in August

89bio, Inc. (NASDAQ:ETNB) was the target of a significant growth in short interest in the month of August. As of August 15th, there was short interest totalling 6,840,000 shares, a growth of 5.2% from the July 31st total of 6,500,000 shares. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 954,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 7.2 days.

89bio Trading Up 0.2 %

Shares of NASDAQ:ETNB opened at $8.80 on Thursday. 89bio has a 12 month low of $6.57 and a 12 month high of $18.25. The company has a quick ratio of 13.92, a current ratio of 13.92 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $8.52 and its 200 day simple moving average is $9.40. The firm has a market cap of $865.74 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -4.38 and a beta of 1.10.

89bio (NASDAQ:ETNB) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Monday, August 5th. The company reported ($0.48) EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.56) by $0.08. During the same quarter last year, the business earned ($0.52) EPS. As a group, research analysts forecast that 89bio will post -2.32 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

ETNB has been the topic of several analyst reports. Royal Bank of Canada cut their price objective on shares of 89bio from $13.00 to $12.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, August 6th. Evercore ISI reduced their price target on shares of 89bio from $37.00 to $33.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, May 15th. Raymond James lifted their price target on shares of 89bio from $50.00 to $53.00 and gave the stock a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 6th. HC Wainwright reissued a “buy” rating and set a $29.00 price target on shares of 89bio in a research report on Tuesday, August 6th. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald reissued an “overweight” rating and set a $29.00 price target on shares of 89bio in a research report on Monday, July 1st. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, five have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $30.14.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On 89bio

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in ETNB. AJOVista LLC acquired a new stake in 89bio in the 4th quarter valued at $42,000. Wetzel Investment Advisors Inc. increased its stake in 89bio by 66.7% in the 1st quarter. Wetzel Investment Advisors Inc. now owns 5,000 shares of the company’s stock valued at $58,000 after buying an additional 2,000 shares during the last quarter. Quest Partners LLC increased its stake in 89bio by 226.2% in the 2nd quarter. Quest Partners LLC now owns 8,113 shares of the company’s stock valued at $65,000 after buying an additional 5,626 shares during the last quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. acquired a new stake in 89bio in the 2nd quarter valued at $66,000. Finally, Ameritas Investment Partners Inc. increased its stake in 89bio by 28.4% in the 1st quarter. Ameritas Investment Partners Inc. now owns 7,886 shares of the company’s stock valued at $92,000 after buying an additional 1,744 shares during the last quarter.

About 89bio

89bio, Inc, a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company, focuses on the development and commercialization of therapies for the treatment of liver and cardio-metabolic diseases. Its lead product candidate is pegozafermin, a glycoPEGylated analog of fibroblast growth factor 21 for the treatment of nonalcoholic steatohepatitis; and for the treatment of severe hypertriglyceridemia.