Alector, Inc. (NASDAQ:ALEC) Short Interest Up 25.1% in May

Alector, Inc. (NASDAQ:ALEC) was the target of a large growth in short interest in the month of May. As of May 31st, there was short interest totalling 6,720,000 shares, a growth of 25.1% from the May 15th total of 5,370,000 shares. Approximately 8.9% of the shares of the company are short sold. Based on an average trading volume of 871,100 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 7.7 days.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

ALEC has been the topic of a number of research reports. HC Wainwright boosted their price objective on Alector from $7.00 to $10.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, May 9th. Morgan Stanley reiterated an “underweight” rating and set a $1.50 price target (down from $3.00) on shares of Alector in a research report on Friday, March 7th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $4.00.

Alector Price Performance

ALEC stock opened at $1.46 on Thursday. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $1.24 and a 200-day moving average of $1.52. The company has a current ratio of 3.34, a quick ratio of 3.34 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.10. Alector has a 12 month low of $0.87 and a 12 month high of $6.78. The firm has a market capitalization of $145.99 million, a P/E ratio of -1.16 and a beta of 0.71.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Alector

Large investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. RA Capital Management L.P. purchased a new position in shares of Alector during the fourth quarter worth about $18,324,000. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Alector by 0.5% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,914,250 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,619,000 after purchasing an additional 10,308 shares in the last quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Alector by 39.8% during the first quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC now owns 1,440,661 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,768,000 after purchasing an additional 410,205 shares in the last quarter. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Alector by 25.9% during the first quarter. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. now owns 1,334,032 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,641,000 after purchasing an additional 274,341 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Deerfield Management Company L.P. Series C grew its holdings in shares of Alector by 1.1% during the fourth quarter. Deerfield Management Company L.P. Series C now owns 1,066,962 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,017,000 after purchasing an additional 11,770 shares in the last quarter. 85.83% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

About Alector

Alector, Inc, a clinical stage biopharmaceutical company, develops therapies for the treatment of neurodegeneration diseases. Its products include AL001, an immune activity in the brain with genetic links to multiple neurodegenerative disorders, which is in Phase III clinical trial for the treatment of frontotemporal dementia, Alzheimer's, Parkinson's, and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis diseases; and AL101 that is in Phase I clinical trial for the treatment of neurodegenerative diseases, including Alzheimer's and Parkinson's diseases.