Sage Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:SAGE) Sees Significant Decrease in Short Interest

Sage Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:SAGE) was the target of a large decline in short interest in the month of December. As of December 31st, there was short interest totalling 4,830,000 shares, a decline of 24.6% from the December 15th total of 6,410,000 shares. Currently, 9.0% of the shares of the company are short sold. Based on an average daily volume of 1,030,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 4.7 days.

Sage Therapeutics Price Performance

Shares of Sage Therapeutics stock traded up $0.11 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $7.08. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 4,254,957 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,556,478. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $5.68 and a 200-day moving average price of $7.52. The stock has a market cap of $433.08 million, a P/E ratio of -1.27 and a beta of 0.91. Sage Therapeutics has a one year low of $4.62 and a one year high of $27.67.

Sage Therapeutics (NASDAQ:SAGE) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 29th. The biopharmaceutical company reported ($1.53) earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($1.52) by ($0.01). The company had revenue of $11.87 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $10.80 million. Sage Therapeutics had a negative return on equity of 50.29% and a negative net margin of 317.29%. The company’s revenue was up 337.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned ($2.81) earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Sage Therapeutics will post -6.45 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Stifel Nicolaus dropped their price target on Sage Therapeutics from $10.00 to $6.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, December 16th. Oppenheimer dropped their target price on Sage Therapeutics from $9.00 to $8.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Raymond James reaffirmed a “market perform” rating on shares of Sage Therapeutics in a research report on Thursday, October 10th. Scotiabank cut their target price on shares of Sage Therapeutics from $17.00 to $14.00 and set a “sector outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, Bank of America decreased their price target on shares of Sage Therapeutics from $11.00 to $6.00 and set an “underperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, October 9th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, sixteen have issued a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $10.53.

Institutional Trading of Sage Therapeutics

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Headlands Technologies LLC boosted its stake in Sage Therapeutics by 245.3% during the second quarter. Headlands Technologies LLC now owns 3,916 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $43,000 after buying an additional 2,782 shares during the period. China Universal Asset Management Co. Ltd. lifted its holdings in shares of Sage Therapeutics by 66.1% in the 3rd quarter. China Universal Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 11,742 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $85,000 after acquiring an additional 4,672 shares during the last quarter. Quest Partners LLC boosted its stake in shares of Sage Therapeutics by 14.5% during the 2nd quarter. Quest Partners LLC now owns 11,763 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $128,000 after purchasing an additional 1,486 shares during the period. Creative Planning purchased a new position in shares of Sage Therapeutics during the 3rd quarter worth about $88,000. Finally, Point72 DIFC Ltd bought a new position in Sage Therapeutics during the 2nd quarter valued at about $153,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 99.22% of the company’s stock.

About Sage Therapeutics

Sage Therapeutics, Inc, a biopharmaceutical company, develops and commercializes brain health medicines. Its product candidates include ZULRESSO, a CIV injection for the treatment of postpartum depression (PPD) in adults; and ZURZUVAE, a neuroactive steroid, a positive allosteric modulator of GABAA receptors, targeting both synaptic and extrasynaptic GABAA receptors, for the treatment of postpartum depression.