Short Interest in Spruce Biosciences, Inc. (NASDAQ:SPRB) Drops By 48.8%

Spruce Biosciences, Inc. (NASDAQ:SPRB) was the recipient of a large decrease in short interest during the month of April. As of April 15th, there was short interest totalling 164,000 shares, a decrease of 48.8% from the March 31st total of 320,400 shares. Currently, 0.7% of the company’s stock are sold short. Based on an average daily volume of 1,320,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 0.1 days.

Insider Activity

In other news, major shareholder Holdings A/S Novo sold 359,979 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $0.73, for a total transaction of $262,784.67. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 3,015,021 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,200,965.33. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. In the last quarter, insiders sold 3,114,315 shares of company stock worth $2,613,101. Insiders own 9.10% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. AIGH Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Spruce Biosciences by 9.0% during the 3rd quarter. AIGH Capital Management LLC now owns 1,211,000 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,737,000 after purchasing an additional 100,000 shares during the last quarter. Worth Venture Partners LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Spruce Biosciences by 8.8% during the 3rd quarter. Worth Venture Partners LLC now owns 302,074 shares of the company’s stock worth $683,000 after purchasing an additional 24,450 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Superstring Capital Management LP acquired a new position in shares of Spruce Biosciences during the 4th quarter worth approximately $348,000. 91.71% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts recently issued reports on the company. SVB Leerink lowered Spruce Biosciences from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and reduced their target price for the stock from $9.00 to $2.00 in a research note on Thursday, March 14th. Leerink Partnrs lowered Spruce Biosciences from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 14th. JMP Securities reduced their price objective on Spruce Biosciences from $8.00 to $3.00 and set a “market outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, March 14th. LADENBURG THALM/SH SH lowered Spruce Biosciences from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 14th. Finally, HC Wainwright reiterated a “neutral” rating on shares of Spruce Biosciences in a research note on Thursday, March 14th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Spruce Biosciences has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $5.67.

Spruce Biosciences Stock Performance

SPRB stock remained flat at $0.70 during trading on Friday. The company had a trading volume of 211,577 shares, compared to its average volume of 675,708. The company has a current ratio of 4.18, a quick ratio of 4.18 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.02. Spruce Biosciences has a 12 month low of $0.67 and a 12 month high of $5.95. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $2.35 and its 200-day moving average price is $2.23.

Spruce Biosciences (NASDAQ:SPRB) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, March 13th. The company reported ($0.23) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of ($0.41) by $0.18. Spruce Biosciences had a negative return on equity of 52.31% and a negative net margin of 474.96%. The company had revenue of $2.89 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.65 million. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Spruce Biosciences will post -1.33 EPS for the current fiscal year.

About Spruce Biosciences

Spruce Biosciences, Inc, a biopharmaceutical company, focuses on developing and commercializing novel therapies for rare endocrine disorders. The company engages in developing tildacerfont, a non-steroidal therapy to enhance disease control and reduce steroid burden for patients suffering from congenital adrenal hyperplasia (CAH), which is in Phase 2b clinical trial; and to evaluate glucocorticoid reduction in adult patients with classic CAH that is Phase 2b clinical trial.