Altimmune, Inc. (NASDAQ:ALT) Sees Large Growth in Short Interest

Altimmune, Inc. (NASDAQ:ALT – Get Rating) was the recipient of a significant growth in short interest during the month of December. As of December 30th, there was short interest totalling 7,580,000 shares, a growth of 19.6% from the December 15th total of 6,340,000 shares. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 1,360,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 5.6 days.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

ALT has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Evercore ISI raised their price target on Altimmune from $14.00 to $25.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday. JMP Securities lowered their price target on Altimmune from $28.00 to $26.00 and set a “market outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, November 11th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group initiated coverage on Altimmune in a research report on Thursday, December 1st. They issued a “buy” rating and a $20.00 price target on the stock. Eight analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating, According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $29.13.

Altimmune Stock Down 0.1 %

ALT stock opened at $14.96 on Friday. Altimmune has a twelve month low of $3.83 and a twelve month high of $23.49. The company has a market cap of $735.42 million, a PE ratio of -7.83 and a beta of 0.15. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $12.43 and its 200 day simple moving average is $13.29.

Altimmune (NASDAQ:ALT – Get Rating) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, November 10th. The company reported ($0.48) EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.49) by $0.01. Altimmune had a negative net margin of 2,618.74% and a negative return on equity of 42.70%. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Altimmune will post -1.87 EPS for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Altimmune news, Director Wayne Pisano sold 20,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, December 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $15.01, for a total transaction of $300,200.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 8,498 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $127,554.98. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Company insiders own 3.19% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Amalgamated Bank bought a new position in Altimmune during the first quarter worth about $29,000. Emfo LLC bought a new position in shares of Altimmune in the second quarter valued at approximately $44,000. King Wealth bought a new position in shares of Altimmune in the second quarter valued at approximately $117,000. Graham Capital Management L.P. bought a new position in shares of Altimmune in the first quarter valued at approximately $63,000. Finally, Eagle Ridge Investment Management bought a new position in shares of Altimmune in the second quarter valued at approximately $121,000. Institutional investors own 93.69% of the company’s stock.

Altimmune Company Profile

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Altimmune, Inc is a clinical stage biopharmaceutical company, which focuses on the development of novel peptide-based therapeutics for the treatment of obesity and liver diseases. The company’s lead product candidate, pemvidutide, is a GLP-1/glucagon dual receptor agonist that is being developed for the treatment of obesity and NASH.