OncoCyte Co. (NASDAQ:OCX) Sees Large Increase in Short Interest

OncoCyte Co. (NASDAQ:OCX) saw 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. Based on an average daily volume of 89,700 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 4.2 days. Approximately 2.5% of the company’s shares are sold short.

OncoCyte Stock Down 1.0 %

OCX stock opened at $2.92 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $83.51 million, a PE ratio of -0.66 and a beta of 0.79. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $2.87 and its two-hundred day moving average is $2.72. OncoCyte has a 52-week low of $1.92 and a 52-week high of $4.75.

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

Analyst Ratings Changes

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

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CFO Andrea S. James purchased 97,561 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, February 7th. The stock was purchased at an average price of $2.05 per share, with a total value of $200,000.05. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 151,231 shares in the company, valued at approximately $310,023.55. The trade was a 181.78 % 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. Also, major shareholder Patrick W. Smith acquired 1,077,600 shares of OncoCyte stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 7th. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $2.05 per share, for a total transaction of $2,209,080.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the insider now directly owns 2,872,671 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,888,975.55. This represents a 60.03 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Insiders have purchased a total of 1,185,625 shares of company stock valued at $2,430,510 over the last quarter. Company insiders own 1.58% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On OncoCyte

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

OncoCyte Company Profile

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.