Alector, Inc. (NASDAQ:ALEC) Short Interest Update

Alector, Inc. (NASDAQ:ALEC) saw a significant decline in short interest in the month of November. As of November 15th, there was short interest totalling 4,020,000 shares, a decline of 14.5% from the October 31st total of 4,700,000 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 744,200 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 5.4 days. Currently, 5.3% of the shares of the company are sold short.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms recently commented on ALEC. Cantor Fitzgerald restated an “overweight” rating on shares of Alector in a report on Tuesday. HC Wainwright reduced their price objective on Alector from $35.00 to $7.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Friday. BTIG Research reduced their price objective on Alector from $16.00 to $5.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday. Finally, Morgan Stanley cut Alector from an “equal weight” rating to an “underweight” rating and reduced their target price for the stock from $10.00 to $3.00 in a research report on Tuesday. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $8.40.

Alector Stock Up 1.6 %

Shares of ALEC stock opened at $2.59 on Friday. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $4.62 and a 200 day moving average price of $4.99. The firm has a market cap of $253.64 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -1.52 and a beta of 0.66. Alector has a 12 month low of $2.37 and a 12 month high of $8.90.

Alector (NASDAQ:ALEC) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, November 6th. The company reported ($0.43) EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.53) by $0.10. The firm had revenue of $15.34 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $16.33 million. Alector had a negative return on equity of 108.77% and a negative net margin of 257.54%. Sell-side analysts predict that Alector will post -1.86 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In other Alector news, CEO Arnon Rosenthal sold 26,499 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, September 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $4.88, for a total transaction of $129,315.12. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 1,948,746 shares in the company, valued at approximately $9,509,880.48. The trade was a 1.34 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CFO Marc Grasso sold 7,297 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, September 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $4.88, for a total transaction of $35,609.36. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 130,740 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $638,011.20. This represents a 5.29 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 47,722 shares of company stock valued at $232,883. 9.10% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Alector

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in ALEC. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in Alector by 12.0% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 4,912,578 shares of the company’s stock worth $29,574,000 after buying an additional 526,037 shares during the last quarter. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Alector by 18.5% during the 3rd quarter. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. now owns 1,017,687 shares of the company’s stock valued at $4,742,000 after purchasing an additional 159,111 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Alector by 8.5% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,903,942 shares of the company’s stock valued at $8,874,000 after purchasing an additional 148,357 shares in the last quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Alector by 32.8% during the 2nd quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC now owns 590,662 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,681,000 after purchasing an additional 146,015 shares in the last quarter. Finally, FMR LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Alector by 1.0% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 14,595,014 shares of the company’s stock valued at $68,013,000 after purchasing an additional 137,794 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 85.83% of the company’s stock.

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.