"Bloomberg" reports that a district court judge in Oklahoma will not approve Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd. (NYSE: TEVA; TASE: TEVA) $85 million settlement over its role in the opioid epidemic there as the company's share slumps to new lows.
Moreover, it has been revealed that the number of short positions by investors in the pharma sector grew by 10% in the second half of May, according to a report by RBC Capital Markets published today. The report states that two of the most prominent companies against whose shares investors are betting are Allergan and Teva following the investigations against the companies in the opioids affair.
Teva's share price fell another 4% in trading on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) yesterday to $8.68, giving a market cap of $9.48 billion, and fell 8% on the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange (TASE).
According to the report, short interest in Teva's share rose by 75.3% to 3% of float in the second half of May, while short interest in Allergan's share was up 43.9% to 2% of float. Short interest in Teva's share has doubled since mid-April.
Investors' confidence in Teva has eroded over the past two years following unsuccessful acquisitions, especially of Actavis Generics, Allergan's generics division, which left Teva with a debt that has now been reduced to $28 billion. The generic drugs price-fixing scandal in the US, which broke last month, added to the negative sentiment when a lawsuit was filed by 44 US states against 20 companies, including Teva, on suspicion of price fixing.
Yesterday, Barclays cut teva's target price to just $8.
Published by Globes, Israel business news - en.globes.co.il - on June 12, 2019
© Copyright of Globes Publisher Itonut (1983) Ltd. 2019