OncoCyte Co. (NASDAQ:OCX) Short Interest Up 22.4% in March

OncoCyte Co. (NASDAQ:OCX) was the recipient of a significant increase in short interest in the month of March. As of March 15th, there was short interest totalling 373,800 shares, an increase of 22.4% from the February 28th total of 305,500 shares. Currently, 2.5% of the company’s shares are sold short. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 89,700 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 4.2 days.

Insider Transactions at OncoCyte

In related news, CFO Andrea S. James purchased 97,561 shares of OncoCyte stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 7th. The shares were bought at an average price of $2.05 per share, with a total value of $200,000.05. Following the purchase, the chief financial officer now directly owns 151,231 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $310,023.55. This represents a 181.78 % increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, major shareholder Patrick W. Smith bought 1,077,600 shares of OncoCyte stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 7th. The shares were bought at an average cost of $2.05 per share, for a total transaction of $2,209,080.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 2,872,671 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,888,975.55. This trade represents a 60.03 % increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have acquired 1,185,625 shares of company stock worth $2,430,510. 1.58% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On OncoCyte

Institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Ground Swell Capital LLC purchased a new position in OncoCyte during the fourth quarter worth approximately $26,000. Two Sigma Securities LLC acquired a new stake in OncoCyte in the 4th quarter valued at $31,000. FNY Investment Advisers LLC increased its holdings in OncoCyte by 15.1% in the 4th quarter. FNY Investment Advisers LLC now owns 49,377 shares of the company’s stock worth $117,000 after acquiring an additional 6,481 shares in the last quarter. Wealthedge Investment Advisors LLC acquired a new position in OncoCyte during the fourth quarter worth $126,000. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC grew its position in shares of OncoCyte by 12.2% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 103,980 shares of the company’s stock valued at $296,000 after purchasing an additional 11,289 shares during the period. 55.35% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

OncoCyte Stock Performance

Shares of OCX stock opened at $3.00 on Thursday. OncoCyte has a fifty-two week low of $1.92 and a fifty-two week high of $4.75. The firm has a market capitalization of $85.80 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -0.68 and a beta of 0.79. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $2.85 and its 200-day simple moving average is $2.72.

OncoCyte (NASDAQ:OCX) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Monday, March 24th. The company reported $0.48 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($0.40) by $0.88. The business had revenue of $1.49 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $0.16 million. OncoCyte had a negative return on equity of 269.32% and a negative net margin of 6,122.29%. As a group, equities analysts forecast that OncoCyte will post -2.57 earnings per share for the current year.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts have issued reports on the stock. Stephens reiterated an “equal weight” rating and set a $4.00 target price on shares of OncoCyte in a report on Tuesday, March 25th. Lake Street Capital began coverage on OncoCyte in a report on Friday, March 28th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $5.00 price target on the stock. StockNews.com assumed coverage on OncoCyte in a research report on Monday. They set a “sell” rating on the stock. Finally, Needham & Company LLC reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $4.25 target price on shares of OncoCyte in a report on Tuesday, March 25th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has issued a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $4.56.

About OncoCyte

OncoCyte Corporation, a precision diagnostics company, focuses on development and commercialization of proprietary tests in the United States and internationally. The company is developing DetermaIO, a gene expression test that assesses the tumor microenvironment to predict response to immunotherapies; DetermaCNI, a blood-based monitoring tool for monitoring therapeutic efficacy in cancer patients; and VitaGraft, a blood-based solid organ transplantation monitoring test.