Alector, Inc. (NASDAQ:ALEC) Sees Significant Decline in Short Interest

Alector, Inc. (NASDAQ:ALEC) saw a large decrease in short interest during the month of December. As of December 31st, there was short interest totalling 5,170,000 shares, a decrease of 8.5% from the December 15th total of 5,650,000 shares. Approximately 6.8% of the shares of the stock are sold short. Based on an average trading volume of 1,250,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 4.1 days.

Insider Activity

In related news, insider Sara Kenkare-Mitra sold 26,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $2.52, for a total value of $66,780.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 565,215 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,424,341.80. This represents a 4.48 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CFO Marc Grasso sold 16,489 shares of Alector stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $2.52, for a total transaction of $41,552.28. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 330,651 shares in the company, valued at approximately $833,240.52. The trade was a 4.75 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 95,161 shares of company stock worth $239,806. Insiders own 9.10% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Alector

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of ALEC. Point72 DIFC Ltd bought a new position in Alector in the 3rd quarter worth $29,000. Point72 Asia Singapore Pte. Ltd. acquired a new stake in shares of Alector in the third quarter valued at about $40,000. nVerses Capital LLC bought a new position in shares of Alector in the third quarter worth about $51,000. Valence8 US LP bought a new stake in Alector during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $69,000. Finally, SG Americas Securities LLC boosted its stake in Alector by 27.9% during the 4th quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 39,334 shares of the company’s stock valued at $74,000 after purchasing an additional 8,581 shares during the period. 85.83% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Alector Trading Up 1.8 %

Shares of NASDAQ:ALEC opened at $1.71 on Monday. The stock has a market capitalization of $167.46 million, a PE ratio of -1.01 and a beta of 0.57. Alector has a 1 year low of $1.60 and a 1 year high of $7.58. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $2.54 and a 200 day moving average price of $4.29.

Alector (NASDAQ:ALEC) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, November 6th. The company reported ($0.43) EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.53) by $0.10. Alector had a negative return on equity of 108.77% and a negative net margin of 257.54%. The business had revenue of $15.34 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $16.33 million. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Alector will post -1.88 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have recently weighed in on ALEC. HC Wainwright lowered their price target on Alector from $35.00 to $7.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, November 29th. Bank of America lowered shares of Alector from a “neutral” rating to an “underperform” rating and reduced their price target for the stock from $9.00 to $1.00 in a research report on Wednesday, December 4th. Cantor Fitzgerald reaffirmed an “overweight” rating on shares of Alector in a research report on Tuesday, November 26th. Morgan Stanley lowered shares of Alector from an “equal weight” rating to an “underweight” rating and decreased their target price for the company from $10.00 to $3.00 in a research note on Tuesday, November 26th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus downgraded shares of Alector from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $4.00 price target on the stock. in a research note on Monday, December 16th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $3.75.

Alector Company Profile

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.