Autolus Therapeutics plc (NASDAQ:AUTL) Short Interest Up 22.1% in December

Autolus Therapeutics plc (NASDAQ:AUTL) was the target of a significant increase in short interest in the month of December. As of December 15th, there was short interest totalling 7,680,000 shares, an increase of 22.1% from the November 30th total of 6,290,000 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 1,750,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 4.4 days.

Institutional Trading of Autolus Therapeutics

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the company. Wellington Management Group LLP raised its holdings in Autolus Therapeutics by 35.4% in the 3rd quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 24,220,226 shares of the company’s stock worth $87,919,000 after acquiring an additional 6,330,392 shares during the period. FMR LLC increased its stake in shares of Autolus Therapeutics by 44.6% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 17,773,873 shares of the company’s stock worth $64,519,000 after purchasing an additional 5,478,706 shares during the period. Erste Asset Management GmbH acquired a new position in shares of Autolus Therapeutics during the 3rd quarter worth about $708,000. Renaissance Technologies LLC lifted its position in shares of Autolus Therapeutics by 253.5% during the 2nd quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 1,145,056 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,985,000 after purchasing an additional 821,156 shares during the last quarter. Finally, GSA Capital Partners LLP bought a new stake in Autolus Therapeutics during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $1,082,000. 72.83% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Autolus Therapeutics Trading Up 3.2 %

NASDAQ AUTL traded up $0.07 during trading on Tuesday, hitting $2.28. 569,963 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,489,849. Autolus Therapeutics has a 12 month low of $2.07 and a 12 month high of $7.45. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $3.14 and a 200 day simple moving average of $3.69. The company has a market capitalization of $606.69 million, a P/E ratio of -1.88 and a beta of 1.98.

Autolus Therapeutics (NASDAQ:AUTL) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, November 12th. The company reported ($0.31) earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.21) by ($0.10). During the same quarter last year, the company earned ($0.26) earnings per share. Equities research analysts predict that Autolus Therapeutics will post -0.94 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms recently issued reports on AUTL. Needham & Company LLC reissued a “buy” rating and set a $10.00 price objective on shares of Autolus Therapeutics in a research report on Thursday, December 5th. The Goldman Sachs Group upgraded Autolus Therapeutics from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their price target for the company from $7.00 to $7.60 in a report on Monday, November 18th. Finally, Redburn Atlantic upgraded Autolus Therapeutics from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $13.00 price objective on the stock in a report on Friday, November 15th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating, Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $10.40.

About Autolus Therapeutics

Autolus Therapeutics plc, a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company, develops T cell therapies for the treatment of cancer and autoimmune diseases. The company's clinical-stage programs include obecabtagene autoleucel (AUTO1), a CD19-targeting programmed T cell investigational therapy that is in Phase 1b/2 clinical trial for the treatment of adult ALL; AUTO1/22, which is in a Phase 1 clinical trial in pediatric patients with relapsed or refractory ALL; AUTO4, a programmed T cell investigational therapy for the treatment of peripheral T-cell lymphoma targeting TRBC1 and TRBC2; AUTO6NG, a programmed T cell investigational therapy targeting GD2 in development for the treatment of neuroblastoma; and AUTO8, a product candidate to treat multiple myeloma.