Applied Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:APLT) Sees Significant Growth in Short Interest

Applied Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:APLT) saw a large increase in short interest in September. As of September 15th, there was short interest totalling 10,820,000 shares, an increase of 10.7% from the August 31st total of 9,770,000 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 2,380,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 4.5 days.

Insider Transactions at Applied Therapeutics

In related news, CEO Shoshana Shendelman sold 119,591 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, August 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $5.93, for a total value of $709,174.63. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 4,690,839 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $27,816,675.27. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. 8.60% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Applied Therapeutics

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of APLT. Vestal Point Capital LP acquired a new stake in Applied Therapeutics during the fourth quarter worth $13,919,000. Opaleye Management Inc. boosted its position in shares of Applied Therapeutics by 22.3% during the 4th quarter. Opaleye Management Inc. now owns 1,092,500 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,660,000 after acquiring an additional 199,500 shares in the last quarter. Denali Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Applied Therapeutics in the first quarter valued at about $228,000. Propel Bio Management LLC raised its position in Applied Therapeutics by 13.7% in the first quarter. Propel Bio Management LLC now owns 6,111,906 shares of the company’s stock worth $41,561,000 after purchasing an additional 736,924 shares in the last quarter. Finally, StemPoint Capital LP lifted its stake in Applied Therapeutics by 122.3% during the first quarter. StemPoint Capital LP now owns 2,017,016 shares of the company’s stock worth $13,716,000 after purchasing an additional 1,109,864 shares during the period. 98.31% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Applied Therapeutics Price Performance

Shares of Applied Therapeutics stock opened at $8.50 on Tuesday. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $6.14 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $5.40. Applied Therapeutics has a fifty-two week low of $1.79 and a fifty-two week high of $9.39. The company has a market cap of $971.27 million, a PE ratio of -4.62 and a beta of 2.03.

Applied Therapeutics (NASDAQ:APLT) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, August 7th. The company reported ($0.13) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($0.10) by ($0.03). The company had revenue of $0.14 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $10.00 million. Analysts expect that Applied Therapeutics will post -0.48 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

APLT has been the topic of several analyst reports. Citigroup increased their price target on Applied Therapeutics from $8.00 to $11.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, September 19th. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $12.00 target price on shares of Applied Therapeutics in a report on Wednesday, July 17th. Leerink Partners raised their price target on Applied Therapeutics from $11.00 to $14.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, September 19th. Finally, William Blair raised Applied Therapeutics to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, August 30th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $12.50.

Applied Therapeutics Company Profile

Applied Therapeutics, Inc, a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company, engages in the development of a pipeline of novel product candidates against validated molecular targets in indications of high unmet medical need in the United States. The company's lead product candidate is AT-007 (also called govorestat) that has completed phase 3 for the treatment of galactosemia in healthy volunteers and adults, in pediatric clinical study for the treatment of galactosemia in kids, for treating enzyme sorbitol dehydrogenase, and for the treatment of phosphomannomutase enzyme-CDG.