Sangamo appointed Jason Fontenot as its new Senior Vice President, Cell Therapy
Biotech company Sangamo Therapeutics Inc (NASDAQ:SGMO) just named Jason Fontenot, Ph.D. as its Senior Vice President, Cell Therapy. Fontenot will be in charge of the genomic medicine concern's developing cell therapy portfolio. The stock isn't reacting positively to the news, down 2.9% at $9.76, at last check.
Looking closer at the charts, the equity plummeted dramatically on Feb. 7, after disappointing trial data had SGMO bottoming out at a 21-month low of $6.26. The stock is now down 61.7% year-over-year. And while it has found some support atop its 10-day moving average, the equity's rebound attempts have put it face-to-face with a historically bearish trendline that could mean even more downside on the charts.
SGMO stock just came within one standard deviation of its 50-day moving average. The security has run up to this trendline four other times in the past couple years, according to data from Schaeffer's Senior Quantitative Analyst Rocky White. The stock was lower one month later every time, and averaged a loss of 12.8%. From its current perch, a similar move would put the stock at $8.51 -- within striking distance of its Feb. 7 finish at $8.31.
A round of bear notes could create even more headwinds for SGMO stock, too. Currently four analysts see the security as a "strong buy," while three say it's a "hold." Plus the consensus 12-month target price of $18.71 represents a 91.1% premium to current levels, and sits in territory not seen since early November.
Despite the 11.2% drop in short interest in the past two weeks, short sellers still have a strong hold on their bearish bets. The 14.35 million shares sold short represents a whopping 17.1% of the stock's available float. At SGMO's average daily trading volume, it would take over seven days to buy back these bearish bets.