Aptose Biosciences Inc. (NASDAQ:APTO) Short Interest Up 520.2% in September

Aptose Biosciences Inc. (NASDAQ:APTO) (TSE:APS) was the target of a large increase in short interest in September. As of September 15th, there was short interest totalling 818,700 shares, an increase of 520.2% from the August 31st total of 132,000 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 531,800 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 1.5 days. Currently, 5.5% of the shares of the stock are short sold.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Aptose Biosciences

An institutional investor recently bought a new position in Aptose Biosciences stock. Armistice Capital LLC bought a new stake in shares of Aptose Biosciences Inc. (NASDAQ:APTO) (TSE:APS) during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund bought 1,713,000 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,300,000. Armistice Capital LLC owned 9.46% of Aptose Biosciences as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). 26.62% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Aptose Biosciences Trading Up 4.4 %

Shares of APTO traded up $0.02 on Friday, reaching $0.42. 34,937 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 237,787. The stock has a market cap of $7.57 million, a PE ratio of -0.06 and a beta of 1.25. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $0.46 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $0.90. Aptose Biosciences has a 52-week low of $0.33 and a 52-week high of $3.32.

Aptose Biosciences (NASDAQ:APTO) (TSE:APS) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 8th. The biotechnology company reported ($0.43) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($0.58) by $0.15. Analysts forecast that Aptose Biosciences will post -2.62 earnings per share for the current year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

APTO has been the subject of several analyst reports. HC Wainwright reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $7.00 target price on shares of Aptose Biosciences in a research report on Friday, June 14th. StockNews.com initiated coverage on shares of Aptose Biosciences in a research report on Thursday. They issued a “hold” rating on the stock. One analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $9.00.

About Aptose Biosciences

Aptose Biosciences Inc, a clinical-stage biotechnology company, discovers and develops personalized therapies addressing unmet medical needs in oncology in Canada. Its lead clinical program is APTO-253, which is a Phase I clinical trial for the treatment of patients with relapsed or refractory hematologic malignancies.