OPKO Health, Inc. (NASDAQ:OPK) Short Interest Up 24.1% in March

OPKO Health, Inc. (NASDAQ:OPK) was the target of a large growth in short interest in the month of March. As of March 15th, there was short interest totalling 111,000,000 shares, a growth of 24.1% from the February 28th total of 89,470,000 shares. Currently, 36.6% of the company’s shares are sold short. Based on an average trading volume of 4,640,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 23.9 days.

Insider Activity at OPKO Health

In other news, CEO Phillip Md Et Al Frost acquired 150,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, January 17th. The stock was acquired at an average price of $1.47 per share, for a total transaction of $220,500.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 213,186,477 shares in the company, valued at approximately $313,384,121.19. This represents a 0.07 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. Insiders have bought 1,214,971 shares of company stock worth $1,913,692 in the last ninety days. Company insiders own 49.69% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of OPKO Health

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Millennium Management LLC boosted its position in OPKO Health by 85.3% during the fourth quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 4,588,526 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $6,745,000 after purchasing an additional 2,112,382 shares during the last quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC raised its stake in shares of OPKO Health by 143.6% during the 4th quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC now owns 2,548,667 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $3,746,000 after purchasing an additional 1,502,342 shares in the last quarter. Altshuler Shaham Ltd acquired a new stake in shares of OPKO Health in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $2,082,000. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of OPKO Health in the fourth quarter valued at $1,657,000. Finally, Two Sigma Investments LP increased its holdings in OPKO Health by 136.1% during the fourth quarter. Two Sigma Investments LP now owns 1,647,567 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $2,422,000 after buying an additional 949,671 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 64.63% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms have recently commented on OPK. Barrington Research reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $2.25 price target on shares of OPKO Health in a research report on Wednesday, March 12th. HC Wainwright restated a “buy” rating and set a $3.00 price objective on shares of OPKO Health in a report on Wednesday, March 19th. Finally, StockNews.com raised shares of OPKO Health from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, March 3rd.

OPKO Health Price Performance

Shares of OPK opened at $1.65 on Thursday. The company has a quick ratio of 2.69, a current ratio of 2.97 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.30. OPKO Health has a twelve month low of $1.15 and a twelve month high of $2.04. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.11 billion, a P/E ratio of -8.68 and a beta of 1.70. The company has a 50 day moving average of $1.69 and a 200-day moving average of $1.58.

OPKO Health (NASDAQ:OPK) last released its earnings results on Thursday, February 27th. The biotechnology company reported $0.01 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.08) by $0.09. OPKO Health had a negative net margin of 18.65% and a negative return on equity of 9.76%. The business had revenue of $183.60 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $155.42 million. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that OPKO Health will post -0.25 EPS for the current fiscal year.

OPKO Health Company Profile

OPKO Health, Inc, a healthcare company, engages in the diagnostics and pharmaceuticals businesses in the United States, Ireland, Chile, Spain, Israel, Mexico, and internationally. The company's Diagnostics segment operates BioReference Laboratories that offers laboratory testing services for the detection, diagnosis, evaluation, monitoring, and treatment of diseases, including esoteric testing, molecular diagnostics, anatomical pathology, genetics, women's health, and correctional healthcare to physician offices, clinics, hospitals, employers, and governmental units; and 4Kscore prostate cancer test.