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

HC Wainwright reaffirmed their buy rating on shares of Altimmune (NASDAQ:ALT) in a research note released on Thursday morning,Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has a $12.00 price target on the stock.

Several other analysts have also commented on the stock. Stifel Nicolaus initiated coverage on shares of Altimmune in a research note on Wednesday, January 8th. They set a “buy” rating and a $18.00 target price for the company. William Blair reaffirmed a “market perform” rating on shares of Altimmune in a report on Friday, March 14th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, six have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $20.83.

Altimmune Stock Down 4.9 %

Shares of NASDAQ ALT opened at $4.24 on Thursday. The stock has a market cap of $326.54 million, a P/E ratio of -2.74 and a beta of 0.91. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $6.01 and its 200 day simple moving average is $6.96. Altimmune has a fifty-two week low of $4.13 and a fifty-two week high of $11.16.

Altimmune (NASDAQ:ALT) last released its earnings results on Thursday, February 27th. The company reported ($0.33) EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($0.34) by $0.01. The firm had revenue of $0.01 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $0.00 million. Altimmune had a negative net margin of 199,076.92% and a negative return on equity of 55.81%. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Altimmune will post -1.35 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In other news, CFO Gregory L. Weaver acquired 10,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 13th. The shares were purchased at an average price of $5.20 per share, for a total transaction of $52,000.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the chief financial officer now owns 10,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $52,000. This represents a ∞ increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. 4.10% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Altimmune

Institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Ameriprise Financial Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Altimmune by 35.6% during the 4th quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 5,254,898 shares of the company’s stock valued at $37,888,000 after purchasing an additional 1,378,854 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its position in Altimmune by 4.7% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,668,004 shares of the company’s stock worth $10,244,000 after buying an additional 74,194 shares during the last quarter. Bellevue Group AG raised its holdings in Altimmune by 9.5% during the fourth quarter. Bellevue Group AG now owns 945,446 shares of the company’s stock valued at $6,817,000 after buying an additional 81,786 shares in the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp lifted its position in shares of Altimmune by 5.7% in the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 665,916 shares of the company’s stock worth $4,801,000 after buying an additional 35,918 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Two Sigma Investments LP boosted its stake in shares of Altimmune by 33.2% during the 4th quarter. Two Sigma Investments LP now owns 605,303 shares of the company’s stock worth $4,364,000 after acquiring an additional 151,001 shares in the last quarter. 78.05% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.