Fate Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:FATE) Short Interest Down 8.1% in December

Fate Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:FATE) was the recipient of a significant drop in short interest during the month of December. As of December 31st, there was short interest totalling 11,200,000 shares, a drop of 8.1% from the December 15th total of 12,190,000 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 2,950,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 3.8 days.

Insider Activity at Fate Therapeutics

In other Fate Therapeutics news, Director Redmile Group, Llc acquired 397,964 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, December 20th. The stock was bought at an average price of $1.68 per share, with a total value of $668,579.52. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 12,884,277 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $21,645,585.36. The trade was a 3.19 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. 5.00% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Fate Therapeutics

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in FATE. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA increased its stake in Fate Therapeutics by 3.5% during the second quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 167,055 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $548,000 after purchasing an additional 5,605 shares during the last quarter. Doheny Asset Management CA acquired a new position in shares of Fate Therapeutics in the 2nd quarter valued at about $263,000. SG Americas Securities LLC grew its position in shares of Fate Therapeutics by 30.6% during the 4th quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 44,874 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $74,000 after buying an additional 10,511 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in Fate Therapeutics by 0.5% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 2,258,246 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $7,905,000 after acquiring an additional 10,863 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Exchange Traded Concepts LLC boosted its stake in Fate Therapeutics by 40.7% in the third quarter. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC now owns 42,289 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $148,000 after acquiring an additional 12,230 shares during the period. 97.54% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts have commented on FATE shares. Wedbush reissued a “neutral” rating and issued a $5.00 price objective on shares of Fate Therapeutics in a research report on Tuesday, November 12th. Bank of America upgraded Fate Therapeutics from an “underperform” rating to a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, November 18th. Finally, Needham & Company LLC restated a “hold” rating on shares of Fate Therapeutics in a report on Tuesday, November 19th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $6.75.

Fate Therapeutics Price Performance

FATE traded up $0.02 during trading on Friday, hitting $1.27. The company had a trading volume of 1,269,351 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,734,264. The company has a market cap of $144.64 million, a PE ratio of -0.77 and a beta of 2.02. Fate Therapeutics has a 1-year low of $1.04 and a 1-year high of $8.83. The business has a 50-day moving average of $2.03 and a 200-day moving average of $3.05.

Fate Therapeutics (NASDAQ:FATE) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, November 12th. The biopharmaceutical company reported ($0.40) EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of ($0.42) by $0.02. Fate Therapeutics had a negative net margin of 1,325.43% and a negative return on equity of 45.88%. The business had revenue of $3.07 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $0.88 million. Research analysts forecast that Fate Therapeutics will post -1.63 earnings per share for the current year.

About Fate Therapeutics

Fate Therapeutics, Inc, a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company, develops programmed cellular immunotherapies for cancer and immune disorders worldwide. The company's chimeric antigen receptor (CAR)-targeted NK and T-cell product candidates include FT576 to treat multiple myeloma, and FT522, to treat lymphoma and autoimmune disorders.