Kronos Bio, Inc. (NASDAQ:KRON) Short Interest Up 7.7% in August

Kronos Bio, Inc. (NASDAQ:KRON) was the recipient of a significant increase in short interest in the month of August. As of August 31st, there was short interest totalling 758,500 shares, an increase of 7.7% from the August 15th total of 704,500 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 298,900 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 2.5 days. Currently, 1.9% of the company’s shares are sold short.

Kronos Bio Price Performance

Shares of KRON stock opened at $0.95 on Tuesday. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $1.13 and a 200 day moving average of $1.09. Kronos Bio has a 52 week low of $0.69 and a 52 week high of $1.60. The firm has a market capitalization of $57.20 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -0.48 and a beta of 1.87.

Kronos Bio (NASDAQ:KRON) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 8th. The company reported ($0.27) EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.32) by $0.05. Kronos Bio had a negative return on equity of 68.82% and a negative net margin of 1,222.83%. The company had revenue of $2.69 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.75 million. Equities research analysts anticipate that Kronos Bio will post -1.33 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity

In related news, CEO Norbert W. Bischofberger acquired 410,848 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, June 27th. The stock was purchased at an average price of $1.17 per share, with a total value of $480,692.16. Following the completion of the purchase, the chief executive officer now owns 10,597,468 shares in the company, valued at approximately $12,399,037.56. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Insiders own 23.40% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Kronos Bio

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Marquette Asset Management LLC lifted its stake in Kronos Bio by 19.8% in the first quarter. Marquette Asset Management LLC now owns 80,369 shares of the company’s stock worth $104,000 after acquiring an additional 13,269 shares during the period. Virtu Financial LLC bought a new position in Kronos Bio in the first quarter worth $71,000. Forefront Analytics LLC raised its holdings in Kronos Bio by 75.0% in the second quarter. Forefront Analytics LLC now owns 134,998 shares of the company’s stock worth $167,000 after purchasing an additional 57,867 shares in the last quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC raised its holdings in Kronos Bio by 17.2% in the first quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC now owns 774,559 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,005,000 after purchasing an additional 113,618 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in Kronos Bio by 14.6% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 1,948,595 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,533,000 after purchasing an additional 247,918 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 64.09% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Separately, HC Wainwright reissued a “buy” rating and set a $2.25 price objective on shares of Kronos Bio in a research note on Monday, August 19th.

Kronos Bio Company Profile

Kronos Bio, Inc, a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company, focuses on the discovery and development of therapeutics for various cancer and other serious diseases in the United States. Its lead product candidates are KB-0742, an oral cyclin dependent kinase 9 inhibitor for the treatment of MYC-amplified solid tumors, which is in phase 2 clinical trial; and KB-9558, a core oncogenic transcription factor that drives multiple myeloma.