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

Applied Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:APLT) saw a significant increase in short interest in the month of 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 daily trading volume, of 2,380,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 4.5 days.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages recently commented on APLT. Royal Bank of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and set a $12.00 target price on shares of Applied Therapeutics in a report on Wednesday, July 17th. Leerink Partners increased their price target on Applied Therapeutics from $11.00 to $14.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, September 19th. William Blair upgraded shares of Applied Therapeutics to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, August 30th. Finally, Citigroup lifted their price objective on Applied Therapeutics from $8.00 to $11.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, September 19th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $12.50.

Applied Therapeutics Stock Performance

Shares of APLT stock traded down $0.14 on Friday, reaching $8.27. 867,737 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,841,315. Applied Therapeutics has a 12-month low of $1.79 and a 12-month high of $9.39. The company has a market capitalization of $944.99 million, a P/E ratio of -4.49 and a beta of 2.03. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $6.07 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $5.39.

Applied Therapeutics (NASDAQ:APLT) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, August 7th. The company reported ($0.13) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.10) by ($0.03). The company had revenue of $0.14 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $10.00 million. Research analysts predict that Applied Therapeutics will post -0.48 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity at Applied Therapeutics

In other news, CEO Shoshana Shendelman sold 119,591 shares of Applied Therapeutics stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $5.93, for a total transaction of $709,174.63. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 4,690,839 shares in the company, valued at $27,816,675.27. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. 8.60% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Applied Therapeutics

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in APLT. Victory Capital Management Inc. acquired a new position in Applied Therapeutics during the second quarter valued at approximately $54,000. Principal Financial Group Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Applied Therapeutics in the second quarter valued at approximately $54,000. SG Americas Securities LLC bought a new position in shares of Applied Therapeutics in the second quarter worth $87,000. Algert Global LLC acquired a new position in shares of Applied Therapeutics in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $110,000. Finally, Denali Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Applied Therapeutics during the first quarter worth $228,000. Institutional investors own 98.31% of the company’s stock.

About Applied Therapeutics

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.