Protara Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:TARA) Sees Large Increase in Short Interest

Protara Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:TARA) was the target of a significant growth in short interest during the month of March. As of March 13th, there was short interest totaling 6,399,060 shares, a growth of 30.7% from the February 26th total of 4,895,488 shares. Currently, 13.5% of the shares of the company are sold short. Based on an average trading volume of 1,033,650 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 6.2 days.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts recently weighed in on TARA shares. TD Cowen reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of Protara Therapeutics in a research report on Tuesday, March 10th. Piper Sandler assumed coverage on shares of Protara Therapeutics in a research report on Wednesday, January 7th. They issued an “overweight” rating and a $24.00 target price for the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. started coverage on shares of Protara Therapeutics in a research note on Wednesday, March 4th. They issued an “overweight” rating and a $27.00 price target on the stock. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of Protara Therapeutics in a report on Thursday, January 22nd. Finally, HC Wainwright reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $23.00 price objective on shares of Protara Therapeutics in a research report on Tuesday, February 10th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, five have issued a Buy rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $21.40.

Protara Therapeutics Stock Down 4.8%

Shares of NASDAQ TARA opened at $4.94 on Friday. Protara Therapeutics has a fifty-two week low of $2.77 and a fifty-two week high of $7.82. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $6.09 and its 200 day simple moving average is $5.53. The stock has a market cap of $267.16 million, a P/E ratio of -3.74 and a beta of 1.40.

Protara Therapeutics (NASDAQ:TARA) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, March 10th. The company reported ($0.37) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.34) by ($0.03). On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Protara Therapeutics will post -3.32 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Acorn Capital Advisors LLC raised its holdings in Protara Therapeutics by 36.9% during the second quarter. Acorn Capital Advisors LLC now owns 1,752,115 shares of the company’s stock worth $5,309,000 after purchasing an additional 472,315 shares in the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. acquired a new stake in Protara Therapeutics in the third quarter worth approximately $1,337,000. Velan Capital Investment Management LP boosted its stake in Protara Therapeutics by 28.3% during the 2nd quarter. Velan Capital Investment Management LP now owns 2,139,000 shares of the company’s stock valued at $6,481,000 after purchasing an additional 471,200 shares in the last quarter. Police & Firemen s Retirement System of New Jersey acquired a new position in shares of Protara Therapeutics during the 2nd quarter valued at $30,000. Finally, Monashee Investment Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Protara Therapeutics during the 4th quarter valued at $666,000. 38.13% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

About Protara Therapeutics

Protara Therapeutics, Inc is a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company focused on developing novel immunotherapies for virus-driven cancers. The company’s primary areas of research include human papillomavirus (HPV)–associated malignancies, where it seeks to harness and enhance the body’s immune response to target tumor cells. Protara’s therapeutic strategy combines antigen-specific vaccination approaches with modulators of T-cell activation to improve clinical outcomes in patients with HPV-mediated disease.

Protara’s lead immunotherapy candidate is PTX-35, an investigational monoclonal antibody designed to agonize OX40, a co-stimulatory receptor on T cells.