Sol-Gel Technologies Ltd. (NASDAQ:SLGL) Sees Large Drop in Short Interest

Sol-Gel Technologies Ltd. (NASDAQ:SLGL) saw a significant decrease in short interest in the month of May. As of May 15th, there was short interest totaling 25,059 shares, a decrease of 36.9% from the April 30th total of 39,739 shares. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 16,127 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 1.6 days. Currently, 2.7% of the company’s shares are short sold.

Sol-Gel Technologies Stock Up 4.7%

Shares of NASDAQ SLGL opened at $73.73 on Wednesday. The firm has a market cap of $207.18 million, a PE ratio of -216.85 and a beta of 1.13. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $73.51 and its 200 day simple moving average is $64.06. Sol-Gel Technologies has a 12-month low of $6.80 and a 12-month high of $97.97.

Sol-Gel Technologies (NASDAQ:SLGL) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 28th. The company reported ($1.31) earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($2.86) by $1.55. The firm had revenue of $0.11 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $0.90 million. Sol-Gel Technologies had a negative net margin of 5.66% and a negative return on equity of 3.17%. On average, equities analysts predict that Sol-Gel Technologies will post -13.03 earnings per share for the current year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts have issued reports on the stock. Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Sol-Gel Technologies from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, May 16th. TD Cowen started coverage on shares of Sol-Gel Technologies in a research report on Friday. They set a “buy” rating for the company. Weiss Ratings downgraded shares of Sol-Gel Technologies from a “hold (c)” rating to a “sell (d+)” rating in a research note on Friday, May 22nd. Finally, Lifesci Capital upgraded shares of Sol-Gel Technologies to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, May 15th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, two have issued a Buy rating, one has assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $110.00.

Insider Transactions at Sol-Gel Technologies

In other Sol-Gel Technologies news, major shareholder Opaleye Management Inc. bought 1,937 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, May 13th. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $66.87 per share, for a total transaction of $129,527.19. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 488,437 shares in the company, valued at approximately $32,661,782.19. This represents a 0.40% increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. 66.51% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in SLGL. Opaleye Management Inc. grew its stake in Sol-Gel Technologies by 121.5% in the fourth quarter. Opaleye Management Inc. now owns 453,739 shares of the company’s stock valued at $19,121,000 after acquiring an additional 248,904 shares during the period. Affinity Asset Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Sol-Gel Technologies during the first quarter valued at approximately $2,773,000. Finally, Yelin Lapidot Holdings Management Ltd. acquired a new position in shares of Sol-Gel Technologies during the fourth quarter worth approximately $748,000. Institutional investors own 26.18% of the company’s stock.

Sol-Gel Technologies Company Profile

Sol-Gel Technologies, Inc (NASDAQ: SLGL) is a U.S.-based advanced materials company specializing in the development and commercialization of nanostructured materials using proprietary sol-gel processes. Leveraging expertise in materials chemistry and thin-film deposition, the company focuses on the production of metal oxide powders, sols, coatings and functional inks designed to enhance performance in a variety of industrial and commercial applications.

The company’s product portfolio includes corrosion- and abrasion-resistant coatings, dielectric and conductive films, catalyst supports and specialty fillers.