D. E. Shaw & Co. Inc. Sells 298,171 Shares of Altimmune, Inc. (NASDAQ:ALT)

D. E. Shaw & Co. Inc. lowered its position in Altimmune, Inc. (NASDAQ:ALT) by 39.3% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 459,833 shares of the company’s stock after selling 298,171 shares during the period. D. E. Shaw & Co. Inc.’s holdings in Altimmune were worth $3,315,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Barclays PLC increased its position in shares of Altimmune by 1.1% in the 4th quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 157,528 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,135,000 after buying an additional 1,787 shares in the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its position in shares of Altimmune by 2.0% in the 4th quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 102,940 shares of the company’s stock valued at $742,000 after buying an additional 2,028 shares in the last quarter. MetLife Investment Management LLC increased its position in shares of Altimmune by 7.0% in the 4th quarter. MetLife Investment Management LLC now owns 44,474 shares of the company’s stock valued at $321,000 after buying an additional 2,897 shares in the last quarter. Teacher Retirement System of Texas increased its position in shares of Altimmune by 19.2% in the 4th quarter. Teacher Retirement System of Texas now owns 21,205 shares of the company’s stock valued at $153,000 after buying an additional 3,423 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of Altimmune by 34.5% in the 4th quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC now owns 13,655 shares of the company’s stock valued at $98,000 after buying an additional 3,500 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 78.05% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms recently commented on ALT. William Blair restated a “market perform” rating on shares of Altimmune in a research report on Friday, March 14th. HC Wainwright reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $12.00 target price on shares of Altimmune in a report on Thursday, April 3rd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, five have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $20.20.

Altimmune Trading Down 3.5%

ALT stock opened at $5.58 on Monday. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $5.11 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $6.56. The stock has a market cap of $452.58 million, a PE ratio of -3.60 and a beta of 1.13. Altimmune, Inc. has a 1 year low of $3.55 and a 1 year high of $11.16.

Altimmune (NASDAQ:ALT) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, May 13th. The company reported ($0.26) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.35) by $0.09. The firm had revenue of $0.01 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $0.00 million. 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 earned ($0.34) EPS. On average, analysts forecast that Altimmune, Inc. will post -1.35 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In related news, CFO Gregory L. Weaver acquired 10,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 13th. The stock was bought at an average price of $5.20 per share, for a total transaction of $52,000.00. Following the acquisition, the chief financial officer now directly owns 10,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $52,000. The trade was a ∞ increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. 4.10% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.