Kezar Life Sciences, Inc. (NASDAQ:KZR) Sees Large Growth in Short Interest

Kezar Life Sciences, Inc. (NASDAQ:KZR) was the target of a significant growth in short interest in February. As of February 15th, there was short interest totalling 120,600 shares, a growth of 55.2% from the January 31st total of 77,700 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 42,500 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 2.8 days. Currently, 1.9% of the shares of the company are short sold.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in KZR. Stonepine Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Kezar Life Sciences by 42.0% in the third quarter. Stonepine Capital Management LLC now owns 1,491,305 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,153,000 after acquiring an additional 440,853 shares during the last quarter. Ikarian Capital LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Kezar Life Sciences by 23.0% in the third quarter. Ikarian Capital LLC now owns 1,068,992 shares of the company’s stock worth $827,000 after acquiring an additional 200,000 shares during the last quarter. Peapod Lane Capital LLC bought a new position in shares of Kezar Life Sciences in the fourth quarter worth about $833,000. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Kezar Life Sciences by 15.0% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 626,912 shares of the company’s stock worth $485,000 after acquiring an additional 81,678 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Shay Capital LLC bought a new position in shares of Kezar Life Sciences in the fourth quarter worth about $398,000. Institutional investors own 67.90% of the company’s stock.

Kezar Life Sciences Price Performance

Shares of KZR stock traded down $0.01 on Monday, reaching $5.70. The company had a trading volume of 34,065 shares, compared to its average volume of 34,617. The stock has a market capitalization of $41.59 million, a PE ratio of -0.43 and a beta of 0.19. The company has a quick ratio of 7.65, a current ratio of 7.65 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.05. Kezar Life Sciences has a one year low of $5.20 and a one year high of $10.60. The business’s 50-day moving average is $6.32 and its 200 day moving average is $6.73.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts recently weighed in on KZR shares. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price objective on shares of Kezar Life Sciences from $11.00 to $9.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, December 19th. HC Wainwright reaffirmed a “neutral” rating on shares of Kezar Life Sciences in a research report on Monday, December 2nd. Finally, William Blair reaffirmed an “outperform” rating on shares of Kezar Life Sciences in a research report on Friday.

Kezar Life Sciences Company Profile

Kezar Life Sciences, Inc, a clinical-stage biotechnology company, engages in the discovery and development of novel small molecule therapeutics to treat unmet needs in immune-mediated diseases and cancer in the United States. The company's lead product candidate is zetomipzomib (KZR-616), a selective immunoproteasome inhibitor that is in Phase 2b clinical trials for various indications, including lupus nephritis, dermatomyositis, and polymyositis; Phase 1b clinical trials in systemic lupus erythematosus; and completed Phase 2a clinical trials in lupus nephritis.