Short Interest in Viracta Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VIRX) Increases By 144.5%

Viracta Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VIRX) was the target of a significant increase in short interest in October. As of October 31st, there was short interest totalling 2,690,000 shares, an increase of 144.5% from the October 15th total of 1,100,000 shares. Currently, 9.7% of the company’s shares are short sold. Based on an average daily volume of 1,390,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 1.9 days.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

An institutional investor recently bought a new position in Viracta Therapeutics stock. Stonepine Capital Management LLC purchased a new stake in Viracta Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VIRX) during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm purchased 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 Securities and Exchange Commission. 31.37% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Viracta Therapeutics Price Performance

Viracta Therapeutics stock remained flat at $0.16 during mid-day trading on Thursday. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 332,535 shares, compared to its average volume of 489,348. The stock has a market cap of $6.22 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -0.14 and a beta of 0.72. Viracta Therapeutics has a 12-month low of $0.15 and a 12-month high of $1.31. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $0.22 and a 200-day simple moving average of $0.44.

Viracta Therapeutics (NASDAQ:VIRX) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, August 14th. The company reported ($0.25) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($0.35) by $0.10. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Viracta Therapeutics will post -0.69 earnings per share for the current year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts have issued reports on VIRX shares. Royal Bank of Canada cut their price target on Viracta Therapeutics from $4.00 to $2.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday. Leerink Partners lowered shares of Viracta Therapeutics from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and cut their target price for the stock from $5.00 to $3.00 in a research note on Friday, August 16th.

Viracta Therapeutics Company Profile

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.