Short Interest in Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Limited (NYSE:TEVA) Grows By 25.1%

Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Limited (NYSE:TEVA) was the target of a significant growth in short interest in March. As of March 15th, there was short interest totalling 34,800,000 shares, a growth of 25.1% from the February 28th total of 27,810,000 shares. Currently, 3.1% of the company’s stock are sold short. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 12,260,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 2.8 days.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Teva Pharmaceutical Industries

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of TEVA. FMR LLC increased its stake in Teva Pharmaceutical Industries by 30.7% in the fourth quarter. FMR LLC now owns 81,983,231 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,806,910,000 after acquiring an additional 19,242,468 shares during the last quarter. Clal Insurance Enterprises Holdings Ltd raised its stake in shares of Teva Pharmaceutical Industries by 12.8% during the fourth quarter. Clal Insurance Enterprises Holdings Ltd now owns 38,962,773 shares of the company’s stock worth $859,935,000 after acquiring an additional 4,418,961 shares in the last quarter. Ion Asset Management Ltd. boosted its stake in shares of Teva Pharmaceutical Industries by 1.1% in the 4th quarter. Ion Asset Management Ltd. now owns 36,650,000 shares of the company’s stock valued at $807,766,000 after purchasing an additional 409,778 shares in the last quarter. Lingotto Investment Management LLP raised its position in Teva Pharmaceutical Industries by 2.6% in the 4th quarter. Lingotto Investment Management LLP now owns 27,192,388 shares of the company’s stock worth $599,320,000 after purchasing an additional 688,862 shares during the period. Finally, Migdal Insurance & Financial Holdings Ltd. boosted its position in Teva Pharmaceutical Industries by 2.2% during the fourth quarter. Migdal Insurance & Financial Holdings Ltd. now owns 26,035,422 shares of the company’s stock valued at $573,822,000 after buying an additional 569,412 shares during the period. 54.05% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Stock Performance

NYSE:TEVA traded up $0.02 on Wednesday, reaching $15.31. 7,736,317 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 9,691,913. The firm has a market cap of $17.36 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -10.56, a P/E/G ratio of 1.44 and a beta of 0.82. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.97, a current ratio of 0.98 and a quick ratio of 0.75. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $16.95 and a 200-day simple moving average of $18.08. Teva Pharmaceutical Industries has a 52 week low of $12.51 and a 52 week high of $22.80.

Teva Pharmaceutical Industries (NYSE:TEVA) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 29th. The company reported $0.70 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.69 by $0.01. Teva Pharmaceutical Industries had a positive return on equity of 42.46% and a negative net margin of 9.91%. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Teva Pharmaceutical Industries will post 2.5 earnings per share for the current year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have weighed in on the company. StockNews.com cut Teva Pharmaceutical Industries from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 27th. Barclays dropped their price target on shares of Teva Pharmaceutical Industries from $28.00 to $26.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Piper Sandler upped their price objective on shares of Teva Pharmaceutical Industries from $23.00 to $30.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, January 17th. Bank of America dropped their target price on shares of Teva Pharmaceutical Industries from $23.00 to $20.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, March 6th. Finally, UBS Group reduced their target price on Teva Pharmaceutical Industries from $30.00 to $27.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $23.43.

About Teva Pharmaceutical Industries

Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Limited develops, manufactures, markets, and distributes generic medicines, specialty medicines, and biopharmaceutical products in North America, Europe, Israel, and internationally. It offers generic medicines in various dosage forms, such as tablets, capsules, injectables, inhalants, liquids, transdermal patches, ointments, and creams; sterile products, hormones, high-potency drugs, and cytotoxic substances in parenteral and solid dosage forms; and generic products with medical devices and combination products.