Anavex Life Sciences Corp. (NASDAQ:AVXL) Short Interest Up 10.6% in March

Anavex Life Sciences Corp. (NASDAQ:AVXL) was the target of a large growth in short interest in March. As of March 31st, there was short interest totalling 22,120,000 shares, a growth of 10.6% from the March 15th total of 20,000,000 shares. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 1,280,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 17.3 days.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Anavex Life Sciences news, CEO Christopher U. Missling sold 73,380 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $5.11, for a total transaction of $374,971.80. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 1,250,210 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,388,573.10. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. 11.60% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Legal & General Group Plc lifted its stake in Anavex Life Sciences by 3.2% in the fourth quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 36,150 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $335,000 after purchasing an additional 1,111 shares during the last quarter. Dana Investment Advisors Inc. lifted its stake in Anavex Life Sciences by 10.9% in the second quarter. Dana Investment Advisors Inc. now owns 11,855 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $96,000 after purchasing an additional 1,170 shares during the last quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. increased its position in shares of Anavex Life Sciences by 7.2% during the second quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 18,714 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $152,000 after acquiring an additional 1,262 shares during the period. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC increased its position in shares of Anavex Life Sciences by 32.9% during the second quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC now owns 5,449 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $44,000 after acquiring an additional 1,348 shares during the period. Finally, The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company increased its position in shares of Anavex Life Sciences by 5.9% during the second quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 27,048 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $220,000 after acquiring an additional 1,503 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 31.55% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Separately, HC Wainwright dropped their price objective on shares of Anavex Life Sciences from $54.00 to $40.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, January 3rd.

Anavex Life Sciences Trading Down 1.7 %

Shares of NASDAQ:AVXL traded down $0.07 during trading on Tuesday, reaching $4.16. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 541,232 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,418,029. Anavex Life Sciences has a 12 month low of $4.07 and a 12 month high of $10.45. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $5.08 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $6.16. The stock has a market capitalization of $341.58 million, a PE ratio of -7.67 and a beta of 0.56.

Anavex Life Sciences (NASDAQ:AVXL) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 7th. The biotechnology company reported ($0.11) EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.15) by $0.04. Research analysts anticipate that Anavex Life Sciences will post -0.57 EPS for the current fiscal year.

About Anavex Life Sciences

Anavex Life Sciences Corp., a clinical stage biopharmaceutical company, engages in the development of therapeutics for the treatment of central nervous system diseases. Its lead product candidate is ANAVEX 2-73 for the treatment of Alzheimer's disease and Parkinson's disease, as well as other central nervous system diseases, including rare diseases, such as Rett syndrome, a rare severe neurological monogenic disorder; and infantile spasms, Fragile X syndrome, and Angelman syndrome.