Short Interest in Alector, Inc. (NASDAQ:ALEC) Grows By 34.1%

Alector, Inc. (NASDAQ:ALEC - Get Free Report) saw a large growth in short interest during the month of November. As of November 30th, there was short interest totalling 5,390,000 shares, a growth of 34.1% from the November 15th total of 4,020,000 shares. Currently, 7.1% of the shares of the stock are short sold. Based on an average trading volume of 1,010,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 5.3 days.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have issued reports on the stock. BTIG Research cut their target price on shares of Alector from $16.00 to $5.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, November 26th. Cantor Fitzgerald restated an "overweight" rating on shares of Alector in a research note on Tuesday, November 26th. Bank of America lowered Alector from a "neutral" rating to an "underperform" rating and reduced their price target for the company from $9.00 to $1.00 in a report on Wednesday, December 4th. Morgan Stanley downgraded Alector from an "equal weight" rating to an "underweight" rating and dropped their price objective for the stock from $10.00 to $3.00 in a report on Tuesday, November 26th. Finally, HC Wainwright reduced their target price on shares of Alector from $35.00 to $7.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research note on Friday, November 29th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Alector currently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $6.20.

Insider Buying and Selling at Alector

In other news, CEO Arnon Rosenthal sold 52,172 shares of the business'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 transaction of $131,473.44. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 2,507,074 shares in the company, valued at $6,317,826.48. The trade was a 2.04 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, insider Sara Kenkare-Mitra sold 26,500 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Monday, December 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $2.52, for a total transaction of $66,780.00. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 565,215 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,424,341.80. This trade represents a 4.48 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 95,161 shares of company stock valued at $239,806. 9.10% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of ALEC. Cubist Systematic Strategies LLC increased its stake in shares of Alector by 73.1% in the second quarter. Cubist Systematic Strategies LLC now owns 92,218 shares of the company's stock worth $419,000 after purchasing an additional 38,947 shares during the period. Creative Planning increased its position in Alector by 54.2% in the 3rd quarter. Creative Planning now owns 19,117 shares of the company's stock worth $89,000 after buying an additional 6,723 shares during the period. Intech Investment Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Alector during the third quarter worth approximately $90,000. Acadian Asset Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Alector by 32.8% in the second quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC now owns 590,662 shares of the company's stock valued at $2,681,000 after acquiring an additional 146,015 shares during the period. Finally, Panagora Asset Management Inc. grew its stake in shares of Alector by 61.7% in the second quarter. Panagora Asset Management Inc. now owns 355,318 shares of the company's stock worth $1,613,000 after acquiring an additional 135,614 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 85.83% of the company's stock.

Alector Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ ALEC traded down $0.07 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $1.97. 1,297,502 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 739,679. The company's fifty day moving average is $4.11 and its two-hundred day moving average is $4.77. Alector has a fifty-two week low of $1.92 and a fifty-two week high of $8.90. The stock has a market cap of $192.93 million, a PE ratio of -1.16 and a beta of 0.51.

Alector (NASDAQ:ALEC - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results 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 net margin of 257.54% and a negative return on equity of 108.77%. The company had revenue of $15.34 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $16.33 million. Research analysts forecast that Alector will post -1.85 earnings per share for the current year.

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.