Short Interest in Autolus Therapeutics plc (NASDAQ:AUTL) Rises By 12.4%

Autolus Therapeutics plc (NASDAQ:AUTL) was the target of a significant increase in short interest in the month of January. As of January 15th, there was short interest totalling 8,630,000 shares, an increase of 12.4% from the December 31st total of 7,680,000 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 1,830,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 4.7 days.

Autolus Therapeutics Price Performance

AUTL stock traded down $0.08 during trading on Monday, hitting $2.14. 706,394 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,088,645. Autolus Therapeutics has a 1 year low of $2.07 and a 1 year high of $7.37. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $2.53 and its 200 day simple moving average is $3.43. The company has a market cap of $568.11 million, a PE ratio of -1.76 and a beta of 2.05.

Autolus Therapeutics (NASDAQ:AUTL) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, November 12th. The company reported ($0.31) EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($0.21) by ($0.10). During the same period last year, the firm posted ($0.26) earnings per share. Research analysts expect that Autolus Therapeutics will post -0.94 earnings per share for the current year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have issued reports on AUTL. Redburn Atlantic raised shares of Autolus Therapeutics from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $13.00 price objective for the company in a report on Friday, November 15th. The Goldman Sachs Group upgraded shares of Autolus Therapeutics from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price objective for the company from $7.00 to $7.60 in a research report on Monday, November 18th. Finally, Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $10.00 price objective on shares of Autolus Therapeutics in a research report on Monday, January 13th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating, According to data from MarketBeat.com, Autolus Therapeutics presently has an average rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $10.40.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Autolus Therapeutics

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its holdings in shares of Autolus Therapeutics by 35.4% in the 3rd quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 24,220,226 shares of the company’s stock valued at $87,919,000 after buying an additional 6,330,392 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC grew its holdings in Autolus Therapeutics by 44.6% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 17,773,873 shares of the company’s stock valued at $64,519,000 after purchasing an additional 5,478,706 shares during the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. grew its holdings in Autolus Therapeutics by 145.3% during the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 1,284,708 shares of the company’s stock valued at $4,663,000 after buying an additional 761,008 shares during the last quarter. Millennium Management LLC grew its stake in Autolus Therapeutics by 113.7% in the 2nd quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 813,031 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,829,000 after acquiring an additional 432,503 shares during the period. Finally, State Street Corp boosted its position in shares of Autolus Therapeutics by 1.7% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 606,544 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,202,000 after acquiring an additional 10,401 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 72.83% of the company’s stock.

Autolus Therapeutics Company Profile

Autolus Therapeutics plc, a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company, develops T cell therapies for the treatment of cancer and autoimmune diseases. The company's clinical-stage programs include obecabtagene autoleucel (AUTO1), a CD19-targeting programmed T cell investigational therapy that is in Phase 1b/2 clinical trial for the treatment of adult ALL; AUTO1/22, which is in a Phase 1 clinical trial in pediatric patients with relapsed or refractory ALL; AUTO4, a programmed T cell investigational therapy for the treatment of peripheral T-cell lymphoma targeting TRBC1 and TRBC2; AUTO6NG, a programmed T cell investigational therapy targeting GD2 in development for the treatment of neuroblastoma; and AUTO8, a product candidate to treat multiple myeloma.