Alpine Immune Sciences (NASDAQ:ALPN) Upgraded by Zacks Investment Research to “Buy”

Zacks Investment Research upgraded shares of Alpine Immune Sciences (NASDAQ:ALPN) from a hold rating to a buy rating in a research note published on Wednesday morning, Zacks.com reports. Zacks Investment Research currently has $15.00 price objective on the biotechnology company’s stock.

According to Zacks, “Alpine Immune Sciences Inc. operates as a specialty pharmaceutical company. It engages in the discovery and development of protein-based immunotherapies for the treatment of cancer, inflammatory disorders and other diseases. Alpine Immune Sciences Inc., formerly known as Nivalis Therapeutics, is based in Seattle, Washington. “

Separately, HC Wainwright started coverage on Alpine Immune Sciences in a report on Monday, December 21st. They set a buy rating and a $21.00 price target for the company. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating, The stock currently has a consensus rating of Buy and an average target price of $18.67.

Alpine Immune Sciences stock traded up $0.54 on Wednesday, hitting $13.77. 943 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 105,589. The company has a current ratio of 3.98, a quick ratio of 3.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13. The firm has a market cap of $327.77 million, a P/E ratio of -9.19 and a beta of 1.72. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $12.64 and its 200 day simple moving average is $9.77. Alpine Immune Sciences has a 1 year low of $2.05 and a 1 year high of $16.37.

Alpine Immune Sciences (NASDAQ:ALPN) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, November 17th. The biotechnology company reported ($0.28) EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($0.23) by ($0.05). The firm had revenue of $1.91 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.80 million. Alpine Immune Sciences had a negative net margin of 606.16% and a negative return on equity of 80.38%. As a group, analysts predict that Alpine Immune Sciences will post -1.4 earnings per share for the current year.

In other Alpine Immune Sciences news, Director Robert E. Conway acquired 10,000 shares of Alpine Immune Sciences stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, November 19th. The stock was bought at an average cost of $8.03 per share, for a total transaction of $80,300.00. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, Director Orbimed Advisors Llc sold 600,000 shares of Alpine Immune Sciences stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $14.25, for a total value of $8,550,000.00. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 76.10% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in ALPN. EcoR1 Capital LLC bought a new stake in Alpine Immune Sciences in the 3rd quarter worth about $6,516,000. Samsara BioCapital LLC bought a new stake in Alpine Immune Sciences in the 3rd quarter worth about $4,344,000. Sphera Funds Management LTD. bought a new stake in Alpine Immune Sciences in the 3rd quarter worth about $1,743,000. Finally, Leonard Rickey Investment Advisors P.L.L.C. increased its holdings in Alpine Immune Sciences by 70.1% in the 3rd quarter. Leonard Rickey Investment Advisors P.L.L.C. now owns 17,013 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $150,000 after buying an additional 7,013 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 52.86% of the company’s stock.

About Alpine Immune Sciences

Alpine Immune Sciences, Inc focuses on the discovery and development of protein-based immunotherapies for the treatment of cancer, autoimmune/inflammatory disorders, and other diseases. Its lead programs include ALPN-101, an inducible T cell costimulator (ICOS)/cluster of differentiation 28 (CD28) antagonist program for the treatment of autoimmune and inflammatory diseases; and ALPN-202, a programmed cell death protein ligand 1 (PD-L1)/cytotoxic T-lymphocyte associated protein 4 (CTLA-4) antagonist with PD-L1 dependent CD28 costimulation for the treatment of cancer.

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