Denali Therapeutics (NASDAQ:DNLI) Stock Price Up 9.8% - Still a Buy?

Denali Therapeutics Inc. (NASDAQ:DNLI - Get Free Report)'s share price rose 9.8% during mid-day trading on Wednesday . The company traded as high as $20.58 and last traded at $20.58. Approximately 93,724 shares were traded during trading, a decline of 91% from the average daily volume of 1,002,677 shares. The stock had previously closed at $18.74.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages recently commented on DNLI. Robert W. Baird started coverage on shares of Denali Therapeutics in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th. They issued an "outperform" rating and a $31.00 price objective for the company. HC Wainwright reduced their price target on Denali Therapeutics from $90.00 to $87.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. Baird R W upgraded Denali Therapeutics to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th. Stifel Nicolaus upgraded Denali Therapeutics from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and set a $37.00 price objective for the company in a research report on Monday, December 16th. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald lowered shares of Denali Therapeutics from an "overweight" rating to a "neutral" rating in a research report on Monday, October 7th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eleven have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $38.91.

Denali Therapeutics Price Performance

The company has a market cap of $3.09 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -7.79 and a beta of 1.39. The business's 50-day simple moving average is $23.48 and its 200-day simple moving average is $24.77.

Denali Therapeutics (NASDAQ:DNLI - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, November 6th. The company reported ($0.63) earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of ($0.60) by ($0.03). During the same period last year, the firm earned ($0.72) EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Denali Therapeutics Inc. will post -2.71 EPS for the current year.

Insider Transactions at Denali Therapeutics

In other news, Director Steve E. Krognes sold 3,339 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, January 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $20.81, for a total value of $69,484.59. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 25,757 shares of the company's stock, valued at $536,003.17. The trade was a 11.48 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Ryan J. Watts sold 40,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, October 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $27.69, for a total transaction of $1,107,600.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 235,807 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,529,495.83. This trade represents a 14.50 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 104,518 shares of company stock valued at $2,576,982 over the last three months. 7.90% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Denali Therapeutics

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. American Century Companies Inc. grew its holdings in Denali Therapeutics by 13.7% in the 2nd quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 522,594 shares of the company's stock valued at $12,135,000 after buying an additional 63,058 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its holdings in Denali Therapeutics by 6.3% in the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,417,472 shares of the company's stock valued at $32,913,000 after purchasing an additional 84,522 shares during the period. Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC purchased a new stake in Denali Therapeutics in the second quarter valued at approximately $249,000. Hsbc Holdings PLC increased its position in Denali Therapeutics by 83.1% during the second quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC now owns 29,642 shares of the company's stock worth $668,000 after purchasing an additional 13,454 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Sei Investments Co. raised its stake in Denali Therapeutics by 87.8% during the second quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 22,670 shares of the company's stock worth $526,000 after purchasing an additional 10,598 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.92% of the company's stock.

About Denali Therapeutics

Denali Therapeutics Inc, a biopharmaceutical company, develops a portfolio of product candidates engineered to cross the blood-brain barrier for neurodegenerative diseases and lysosomal storage diseases in the United States. The company's transport vehicle (TV)-enabled programs include DNL310 ETV, an IDS enzyme replacement therapy program for MPS II; TAK-594/DNL593 which is in Phase 1/II for frontotemporal dementia-granulin; DNL126 program for MPS IIIA; and DNL622 for MPS I, as well as other preclinical programs that target amyloid beta and HER2.