Principal Financial Group Inc. Acquires New Shares in Altimmune, Inc. (NASDAQ:ALT)

Principal Financial Group Inc. bought a new position in shares of Altimmune, Inc. (NASDAQ:ALT) in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor bought 10,590 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $70,000.

Several other large investors have also modified their holdings of ALT. North Star Investment Management Corp. acquired a new stake in Altimmune in the 1st quarter worth $31,000. CANADA LIFE ASSURANCE Co bought a new position in shares of Altimmune in the first quarter valued at about $44,000. Russell Investments Group Ltd. raised its holdings in shares of Altimmune by 1,150.9% in the fourth quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. now owns 4,303 shares of the company’s stock valued at $48,000 after buying an additional 3,959 shares during the last quarter. TFO Wealth Partners LLC bought a new stake in Altimmune during the 1st quarter worth about $51,000. Finally, Horizon Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in Altimmune in the 2nd quarter valued at about $66,000. 78.05% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, Director David Drutz sold 16,011 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $6.90, for a total transaction of $110,475.90. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 41,958 shares in the company, valued at $289,510.20. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Company insiders own 4.10% of the company’s stock.

Altimmune Stock Performance

Shares of ALT stock opened at $7.58 on Tuesday. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $6.70 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $7.49. The stock has a market cap of $537.44 million, a PE ratio of -4.77 and a beta of 0.08. Altimmune, Inc. has a 52-week low of $2.09 and a 52-week high of $14.84.

Altimmune (NASDAQ:ALT) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 8th. The company reported ($0.35) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($0.34) by ($0.01). The company had revenue of $0.01 million during the quarter. Altimmune had a negative return on equity of 53.09% and a negative net margin of 24,778.97%. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned ($0.32) EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Altimmune, Inc. will post -0.54 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have recently issued reports on ALT shares. Evercore ISI upgraded shares of Altimmune to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, August 9th. B. Riley reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $20.00 price objective on shares of Altimmune in a report on Monday, August 12th. HC Wainwright reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $12.00 target price on shares of Altimmune in a research note on Thursday, August 22nd. Finally, Piper Sandler restated an “overweight” rating and set a $25.00 target price on shares of Altimmune in a research report on Friday, June 21st. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, four have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $18.80.

Altimmune Company Profile

Altimmune, Inc, a clinical stage biopharmaceutical company, focuses on developing treatments for obesity and liver diseases. The company's lead product candidate, pemvidutide, a GLP-1/glucagon dual receptor agonist that is in Phase 2 trial for the treatment of obesity and metabolic dysfunction-associated steatohepatitis.