Applied Therapeutics (NASDAQ:APLT) Sees Unusually-High Trading Volume After Analyst Upgrade

Shares of Applied Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:APLT) saw strong trading volume on Thursday after Citigroup raised their price target on the stock from $8.00 to $11.00. Citigroup currently has a buy rating on the stock. 885,436 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 49% from the previous session’s volume of 1,721,531 shares.The stock last traded at $7.91 and had previously closed at $7.85.

Other equities research analysts also recently issued reports about the stock. Leerink Partners upped their price target on shares of Applied Therapeutics from $11.00 to $14.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday. 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. Finally, William Blair upgraded shares of Applied Therapeutics to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, August 30th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $12.50.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Applied Therapeutics news, CEO Shoshana Shendelman sold 300,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $5.98, for a total transaction of $1,794,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 5,167,853 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $30,903,760.94. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. 8.60% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Applied Therapeutics

Several large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. AIGH Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Applied Therapeutics by 109.1% during the fourth quarter. AIGH Capital Management LLC now owns 1,659,039 shares of the company’s stock valued at $5,558,000 after buying an additional 865,689 shares in the last quarter. Opaleye Management Inc. grew its stake in 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. Vestal Point Capital LP purchased a new position in Applied Therapeutics during the 4th quarter valued at about $13,919,000. Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Applied Therapeutics in the 2nd quarter valued at about $920,000. Finally, Peregrine Capital Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Applied Therapeutics in the second quarter worth approximately $3,414,000. 98.31% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Applied Therapeutics Price Performance

The firm has a market capitalization of $879.86 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -4.18 and a beta of 2.03. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $5.81 and its 200 day moving average is $5.34.

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

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.