Lifecore Biomedical, Inc. (NASDAQ:LFCR) Sees Significant Increase in Short Interest

Lifecore Biomedical, Inc. (NASDAQ:LFCR) was the target of a large increase in short interest in the month of December. As of December 31st, there was short interest totalling 2,500,000 shares, an increase of 6.4% from the December 15th total of 2,350,000 shares. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 240,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 10.4 days. Approximately 7.6% of the company’s shares are short sold.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts recently issued reports on the company. Stephens reissued an “equal weight” rating and set a $6.00 price objective on shares of Lifecore Biomedical in a research report on Friday, January 3rd. Craig Hallum lifted their price target on shares of Lifecore Biomedical from $8.00 to $10.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, November 22nd.

Insider Activity

In other Lifecore Biomedical news, CEO Paul Josephs bought 17,000 shares of Lifecore Biomedical stock in a transaction on Wednesday, January 8th. The shares were bought at an average price of $5.74 per share, for a total transaction of $97,580.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 559,717 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,212,775.58. This trade represents a 3.13 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. Corporate insiders own 28.21% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in LFCR. State Street Corp lifted its holdings in Lifecore Biomedical by 10.2% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 334,360 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,648,000 after buying an additional 30,916 shares in the last quarter. Barclays PLC increased its position in shares of Lifecore Biomedical by 301.7% during the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 29,944 shares of the company’s stock worth $147,000 after acquiring an additional 22,489 shares during the period. BNP Paribas Financial Markets raised its stake in shares of Lifecore Biomedical by 2,640.5% in the third quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 54,399 shares of the company’s stock valued at $268,000 after acquiring an additional 52,414 shares in the last quarter. Marshall Wace LLP boosted its holdings in Lifecore Biomedical by 87.3% in the second quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 300,120 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,540,000 after purchasing an additional 139,887 shares during the period. Finally, Jane Street Group LLC grew its stake in Lifecore Biomedical by 101.7% during the 3rd quarter. Jane Street Group LLC now owns 36,246 shares of the company’s stock worth $179,000 after purchasing an additional 18,277 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 83.36% of the company’s stock.

Lifecore Biomedical Trading Up 0.6 %

LFCR opened at $6.48 on Monday. Lifecore Biomedical has a 52 week low of $3.68 and a 52 week high of $8.90. The company has a quick ratio of 1.21, a current ratio of 2.32 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 9.21. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $7.07 and a 200-day simple moving average of $5.90. The firm has a market cap of $239.92 million, a P/E ratio of -11.57 and a beta of 0.98.

Lifecore Biomedical (NASDAQ:LFCR) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, January 2nd. The company reported ($0.25) EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.27) by $0.02. Lifecore Biomedical had a negative return on equity of 315.23% and a negative net margin of 12.52%. On average, equities analysts expect that Lifecore Biomedical will post -1 earnings per share for the current year.

About Lifecore Biomedical

Lifecore Biomedical, Inc, together with its subsidiaries, operates as an integrated contract development and manufacturing organization in the United States and internationally. The company engages in the manufacturing of pharmaceutical-grade sodium hyaluronate (HA) in bulk form, as well as formulated and filled syringes and vials for injectable products used in treating a range of medical conditions and procedures.