Lifecore Biomedical, Inc. (NASDAQ:LFCR) Short Interest Up 6.4% in December

Lifecore Biomedical, Inc. (NASDAQ:LFCR) was the target of a large growth in short interest in December. As of December 31st, there was short interest totalling 2,500,000 shares, a growth of 6.4% from the December 15th total of 2,350,000 shares. Currently, 7.6% of the shares of the stock are short sold. Based on an average daily volume of 240,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 10.4 days.

Lifecore Biomedical Trading Up 0.6 %

Shares of LFCR opened at $6.48 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 9.21, a current ratio of 2.32 and a quick ratio of 1.21. Lifecore Biomedical has a 1-year low of $3.68 and a 1-year high of $8.90. The stock has a market cap of $239.95 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -11.57 and a beta of 0.98. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $7.07 and a 200-day simple moving average of $5.91.

Lifecore Biomedical (NASDAQ:LFCR) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 2nd. The company reported ($0.25) earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of ($0.27) by $0.02. Lifecore Biomedical had a negative return on equity of 315.23% and a negative net margin of 12.52%. Equities analysts forecast that Lifecore Biomedical will post -1 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Paul Josephs purchased 17,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, January 8th. The shares were acquired at an average price of $5.74 per share, with a total value of $97,580.00. Following the purchase, the chief executive officer now directly owns 559,717 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,212,775.58. The trade was a 3.13 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Insiders own 28.21% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Barclays PLC boosted its stake in shares of Lifecore Biomedical by 301.7% during the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 29,944 shares of the company’s stock worth $147,000 after purchasing an additional 22,489 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp lifted its stake in shares of Lifecore Biomedical by 10.2% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 334,360 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,648,000 after buying an additional 30,916 shares during the period. Jane Street Group LLC boosted its position in Lifecore Biomedical by 101.7% during the third quarter. Jane Street Group LLC now owns 36,246 shares of the company’s stock worth $179,000 after acquiring an additional 18,277 shares during the last quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets boosted its position in Lifecore Biomedical by 2,640.5% during the third quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 54,399 shares of the company’s stock worth $268,000 after acquiring an additional 52,414 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Marshall Wace LLP grew its stake in Lifecore Biomedical by 87.3% in the 2nd quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 300,120 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,540,000 after acquiring an additional 139,887 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 83.36% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms have commented on LFCR. Craig Hallum boosted their target price on Lifecore Biomedical from $8.00 to $10.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, November 22nd. Stephens reiterated an “equal weight” rating and issued a $6.00 price objective on shares of Lifecore Biomedical in a research report on Friday, January 3rd.

About Lifecore Biomedical

Lifecore Biomedical, Inc, together with its subsidiaries, operates as an integrated contract development and manufacturing organization in the United States and internationally. The company engages in the manufacturing of pharmaceutical-grade sodium hyaluronate (HA) in bulk form, as well as formulated and filled syringes and vials for injectable products used in treating a range of medical conditions and procedures.