Terns Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:TERN) Sees Large Increase in Short Interest

Terns Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:TERN) was the target of a significant increase in short interest during the month of November. As of November 30th, there was short interest totalling 5,390,000 shares, an increase of 35.4% from the November 15th total of 3,980,000 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 1,840,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 2.9 days. Currently, 8.7% of the shares of the stock are sold short.

Insider Activity at Terns Pharmaceuticals

In related news, CEO Amy L. Burroughs purchased 15,450 shares of Terns Pharmaceuticals stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, December 5th. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $7.15 per share, for a total transaction of $110,467.50. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 19,099 shares in the company, valued at $136,557.85. The trade was a 423.40 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. 15.10% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Terns Pharmaceuticals

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Bellevue Group AG bought a new position in Terns Pharmaceuticals in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $8,691,000. Point72 Asset Management L.P. lifted its holdings in shares of Terns Pharmaceuticals by 21.1% in the second quarter. Point72 Asset Management L.P. now owns 2,690,376 shares of the company’s stock worth $18,321,000 after buying an additional 469,176 shares in the last quarter. Telemark Asset Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Terns Pharmaceuticals during the third quarter worth $2,502,000. Walleye Capital LLC purchased a new position in Terns Pharmaceuticals during the third quarter valued at $1,550,000. Finally, Cinctive Capital Management LP bought a new stake in Terns Pharmaceuticals in the 3rd quarter valued at $1,406,000. Institutional investors own 98.26% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms recently issued reports on TERN. JMP Securities reissued a “market outperform” rating and issued a $20.00 target price on shares of Terns Pharmaceuticals in a research note on Wednesday, December 4th. HC Wainwright reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and issued a $7.50 target price on shares of Terns Pharmaceuticals in a report on Wednesday, December 4th. BMO Capital Markets reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $26.00 price target (up from $19.00) on shares of Terns Pharmaceuticals in a report on Monday, September 16th. Finally, Oppenheimer raised their price objective on shares of Terns Pharmaceuticals from $17.00 to $20.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 4th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $18.30.

Terns Pharmaceuticals Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ TERN traded up $0.14 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $6.73. The stock had a trading volume of 2,110,012 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,326,037. The company has a market capitalization of $571.64 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -5.70 and a beta of -0.36. Terns Pharmaceuticals has a 12-month low of $4.32 and a 12-month high of $11.40. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $6.82 and a 200-day moving average of $7.53.

Terns Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:TERN) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, November 12th. The company reported ($0.28) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.33) by $0.05. As a group, analysts forecast that Terns Pharmaceuticals will post -1.19 EPS for the current fiscal year.

About Terns Pharmaceuticals

Terns Pharmaceuticals, Inc, a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company, develops small-molecule product candidates for the treatment of oncology, metabolic dysfunction-associated steatohepatitis (MASH), and obesity. The company develops TERN-701, an allosteric BCR-ABL tyrosine kinase inhibitor (TKI) that is in phase 1 clinical trial for chronic myeloid leukemia (CML), a form of cancer that starts in bone marrow.