Relay Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:RLAY) Short Interest Up 23.8% in December

Relay Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:RLAY) was the recipient of a significant growth in short interest in December. As of December 31st, there was short interest totalling 14,950,000 shares, a growth of 23.8% from the December 15th total of 12,080,000 shares. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 2,080,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 7.2 days.

Relay Therapeutics Stock Performance

Relay Therapeutics stock traded up $0.14 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $4.46. 3,391,665 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,649,613. The firm has a market cap of $746.51 million, a PE ratio of -1.71 and a beta of 1.60. Relay Therapeutics has a 52 week low of $3.50 and a 52 week high of $11.16. The company’s fifty day moving average is $4.64 and its 200-day moving average is $6.25.

Relay Therapeutics (NASDAQ:RLAY) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, November 6th. The company reported ($0.63) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.77) by $0.14. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned ($0.54) EPS. The company’s revenue was down 100.0% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Relay Therapeutics will post -2.55 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Relay Therapeutics

In related news, insider Peter Rahmer sold 32,156 shares of Relay Therapeutics stock in a transaction on Thursday, January 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $4.15, for a total transaction of $133,447.40. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 357,507 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,483,654.05. This trade represents a 8.25 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CEO Sanjiv Patel sold 100,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, December 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $5.00, for a total value of $500,000.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 574,548 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,872,740. This represents a 14.82 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 162,319 shares of company stock valued at $781,067. Corporate insiders own 4.32% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Relay Therapeutics by 26.1% during the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,035,789 shares of the company’s stock valued at $7,333,000 after purchasing an additional 214,398 shares during the period. Maven Securities LTD bought a new stake in Relay Therapeutics in the 3rd quarter worth $2,389,000. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its position in shares of Relay Therapeutics by 15.5% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 2,732,270 shares of the company’s stock valued at $19,348,000 after acquiring an additional 367,473 shares during the period. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised its stake in shares of Relay Therapeutics by 39.2% during the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 5,517,516 shares of the company’s stock valued at $39,064,000 after acquiring an additional 1,554,115 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Franklin Resources Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Relay Therapeutics by 3,883.8% during the third quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 1,396,842 shares of the company’s stock worth $9,429,000 after purchasing an additional 1,361,779 shares during the period. 96.98% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms have issued reports on RLAY. HC Wainwright reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $16.00 target price on shares of Relay Therapeutics in a research report on Tuesday. JMP Securities reissued a “market outperform” rating and issued a $21.00 price objective on shares of Relay Therapeutics in a report on Thursday, December 12th. Finally, Leerink Partners dropped their price objective on shares of Relay Therapeutics from $19.00 to $18.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, December 4th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Relay Therapeutics presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $20.50.

About Relay Therapeutics

Relay Therapeutics, Inc operates as a clinical-stage precision medicines company. It engages in transforming the drug discovery process with an initial focus on enhancing small molecule therapeutic discovery in targeted oncology and genetic disease indications. The company’s lead product candidates include RLY-4008, an oral small molecule inhibitor of fibroblast growth factor receptor 2 (FGFR2), which is in a first-in-human clinical trial for patients with advanced or metastatic FGFR2-altered solid tumors; RLY-2608, a lead mutant-PI3Ka inhibitor program that targets phosphoinostide 3 kinase alpha; and Migoprotafib (GDC-1971), an oral, small molecule, potent and selective inhibitor of the protein tyrosine phosphatase SHP2 that binds and stabilizes Src homology region 2 domain-containing phosphatase-2 (SHP2) as a monotherapy in patients with advanced or metastatic solid tumors.