HC Wainwright Reaffirms Buy Rating for Altimmune (NASDAQ:ALT)

HC Wainwright restated their buy rating on shares of Altimmune (NASDAQ:ALT) in a research note issued to investors on Thursday morning,Benzinga reports. The firm currently has a $12.00 price objective on the stock.

Several other equities analysts have also recently issued reports on ALT. B. Riley reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $20.00 target price on shares of Altimmune in a research note on Monday, August 12th. Evercore ISI raised shares of Altimmune to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, August 9th. Finally, UBS Group assumed coverage on shares of Altimmune in a report on Tuesday. They issued a “buy” rating and a $26.00 target price on the stock. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, five have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Altimmune currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $20.00.

Altimmune Price Performance

Altimmune stock traded down $0.78 during trading hours on Thursday, reaching $7.67. The stock had a trading volume of 4,446,297 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,867,725. Altimmune has a 52 week low of $2.34 and a 52 week high of $14.84. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $6.99 and a 200-day simple moving average of $6.90. The stock has a market cap of $545.49 million, a PE ratio of -5.05 and a beta of 0.09.

Altimmune (NASDAQ:ALT) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, November 12th. The company reported ($0.32) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($0.35) by $0.03. Altimmune had a negative net margin of 199,076.92% and a negative return on equity of 55.81%. The company had revenue of $0.01 million during the quarter. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted ($0.39) earnings per share. Research analysts predict that Altimmune will post -0.54 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Transactions at Altimmune

In other news, Director David Drutz sold 16,011 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $6.90, for a total transaction of $110,475.90. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 41,958 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $289,510.20. This trade represents a 27.62 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Company insiders own 4.10% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Altimmune

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in ALT. Farallon Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Altimmune by 1,282.4% during the first quarter. Farallon Capital Management LLC now owns 470,000 shares of the company’s stock valued at $4,785,000 after acquiring an additional 436,000 shares during the period. Knoll Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Altimmune by 183.6% in the first quarter. Knoll Capital Management LLC now owns 567,219 shares of the company’s stock worth $5,774,000 after acquiring an additional 367,219 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its holdings in shares of Altimmune by 142.9% in the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 570,174 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,791,000 after acquiring an additional 335,444 shares in the last quarter. Bellevue Group AG increased its holdings in shares of Altimmune by 43.9% in the third quarter. Bellevue Group AG now owns 863,660 shares of the company’s stock worth $5,303,000 after acquiring an additional 263,660 shares in the last quarter. Finally, SG Americas Securities LLC grew its holdings in shares of Altimmune by 542.8% during the second quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 254,571 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,693,000 after buying an additional 214,968 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 78.05% of the company’s stock.

About Altimmune

Altimmune, Inc, a clinical stage biopharmaceutical company, focuses on developing treatments for obesity and liver diseases. The company's lead product candidate, pemvidutide, a GLP-1/glucagon dual receptor agonist that is in Phase 2 trial for the treatment of obesity and metabolic dysfunction-associated steatohepatitis.