Altimmune (NASDAQ:ALT) Shares Gap Up – Time to Buy?

Altimmune, Inc. (NASDAQ:ALT)’s stock price gapped up before the market opened on Wednesday . The stock had previously closed at $7.31, but opened at $7.54. Altimmune shares last traded at $7.42, with a volume of 484,517 shares.

Analyst Ratings Changes

ALT has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Stifel Nicolaus initiated coverage on shares of Altimmune in a research report on Wednesday. They issued a “buy” rating and a $18.00 target price on the stock. HC Wainwright reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $12.00 target price on shares of Altimmune in a research note on Thursday, November 14th. Finally, UBS Group started coverage on shares of Altimmune in a report on Tuesday, November 12th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $26.00 price objective for the company. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, six have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $19.71.

Altimmune Trading Down 8.3 %

The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $8.10 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $7.20. The company has a market capitalization of $485.78 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -4.41 and a beta of 0.22.

Altimmune (NASDAQ:ALT) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, November 12th. The company reported ($0.32) EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.35) by $0.03. The firm had revenue of $0.01 million for the quarter. Altimmune had a negative return on equity of 55.81% and a negative net margin of 199,076.92%. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted ($0.39) earnings per share. As a group, analysts forecast that Altimmune, Inc. will post -1.36 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Altimmune

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. B. Riley Wealth Advisors Inc. boosted its holdings in Altimmune by 12.9% during the 3rd quarter. B. Riley Wealth Advisors Inc. now owns 23,454 shares of the company’s stock valued at $144,000 after acquiring an additional 2,687 shares during the period. Virtu Financial LLC acquired a new position in shares of Altimmune in the third quarter valued at approximately $674,000. Barclays PLC increased its stake in Altimmune by 93.0% during the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 155,741 shares of the company’s stock worth $956,000 after buying an additional 75,064 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in Altimmune by 4.7% during the 3rd 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 in the last quarter. Finally, Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its position in Altimmune by 27.5% in the 3rd quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 197,232 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,211,000 after buying an additional 42,553 shares during the period. 78.05% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Altimmune Company Profile

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.