Aptose Biosciences Inc. (NASDAQ:APTO) Sees Significant Decline in Short Interest

Aptose Biosciences Inc. (NASDAQ:APTO) (TSE:APS) saw a large drop in short interest in March. As of March 15th, there was short interest totalling 53,200 shares, a drop of 56.6% from the February 28th total of 122,600 shares. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 395,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 0.1 days. Approximately 3.3% of the company’s shares are sold short.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have commented on APTO shares. HC Wainwright restated a “buy” rating and issued a $60.00 target price on shares of Aptose Biosciences in a research note on Wednesday, February 12th. StockNews.com initiated coverage on Aptose Biosciences in a research note on Thursday. They issued a “sell” rating on the stock. Finally, Alliance Global Partners raised Aptose Biosciences to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 27th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $130.00.

Institutional Trading of Aptose Biosciences

A hedge fund recently raised its stake in Aptose Biosciences stock. Sigma Planning Corp increased its stake in shares of Aptose Biosciences Inc. (NASDAQ:APTO) (TSE:APS) by 75.1% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 703,384 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock after purchasing an additional 301,634 shares during the quarter. Sigma Planning Corp owned approximately 1.17% of Aptose Biosciences worth $158,000 as of its most recent SEC filing. 26.62% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Aptose Biosciences Stock Performance

Shares of APTO opened at $3.70 on Friday. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $4.63 and a 200-day moving average price of $7.59. Aptose Biosciences has a fifty-two week low of $2.39 and a fifty-two week high of $51.61. The stock has a market capitalization of $7.92 million, a PE ratio of -1.25 and a beta of 1.14.

Aptose Biosciences Company Profile

Aptose Biosciences Inc, a clinical-stage biotechnology company, discovers and develops personalized therapies addressing unmet medical needs in oncology in Canada. Its lead clinical program is APTO-253, which is a Phase I clinical trial for the treatment of patients with relapsed or refractory hematologic malignancies.