Investors Purchase Large Volume of Altimmune Call Options (NASDAQ:ALT)

Altimmune, Inc. (NASDAQ:ALT) was the recipient of some unusual options trading activity on Monday. Investors acquired 7,019 call options on the company. This is an increase of approximately 62% compared to the typical daily volume of 4,331 call options.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Altimmune

Several hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in ALT. PVG Asset Management Corp acquired a new position in shares of Altimmune during the first quarter worth $204,000. Bank of America Corp DE grew its stake in shares of Altimmune by 48.6% in the 1st quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 570,203 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,756,000 after buying an additional 186,420 shares during the period. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of Altimmune by 101.6% during the first quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 35,650 shares of the company’s stock valued at $110,000 after acquiring an additional 17,967 shares in the last quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company increased its stake in Altimmune by 26.0% during the 1st quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 34,763 shares of the company’s stock valued at $107,000 after purchasing an additional 7,167 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Quantinno Capital Management LP bought a new stake in shares of Altimmune during the first quarter worth about $33,000. 78.05% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts have recently commented on the company. Citizens Jmp cut their price target on Altimmune from $14.00 to $11.00 and set a “market outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, May 14th. Wall Street Zen cut shares of Altimmune from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Saturday, March 7th. Leerink Partners started coverage on Altimmune in a research note on Monday. They set an “outperform” rating and a $10.00 target price for the company. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of Altimmune in a report on Friday, March 27th. Finally, William Blair reaffirmed a “market perform” rating on shares of Altimmune in a report on Thursday, March 5th. Eight research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, one has given a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $15.71.

Altimmune Price Performance

NASDAQ:ALT traded up $0.24 during mid-day trading on Monday, reaching $2.94. The stock had a trading volume of 2,205,517 shares, compared to its average volume of 4,226,636. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12, a current ratio of 29.56 and a quick ratio of 29.56. Altimmune has a 12 month low of $2.56 and a 12 month high of $7.73. The stock has a market capitalization of $572.71 million, a PE ratio of -3.17 and a beta of 0.21. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $2.96 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $3.82.

Altimmune (NASDAQ:ALT) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, May 13th. The company reported ($0.18) earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of ($0.25) by $0.07. Altimmune had a negative return on equity of 42.57% and a negative net margin of 214,860.98%. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Altimmune will post -0.69 earnings per share for the current year.

Altimmune Company Profile

Altimmune, Inc is a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company headquartered in Gaithersburg, Maryland, dedicated to the development of vaccines and immunotherapeutics. The company leverages proprietary technology platforms to create intranasal vaccine candidates and novel therapies targeting liver diseases and metabolic disorders. Altimmune’s approach emphasizes the stimulation of both systemic and mucosal immune responses to address unmet medical needs in infectious and chronic conditions.

Among its lead programs, NasoVAX is an investigational intranasal influenza vaccine designed to provide broad, long-lasting protection through a single, non-invasive dose.