Galectin Therapeutics (NASDAQ:GALT) Issues Earnings Results, Beats Estimates By $0.02 EPS

Galectin Therapeutics (NASDAQ:GALT) issued its earnings results on Tuesday. The company reported ($0.08) earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.10) by $0.02, FiscalAI reports.

Galectin Therapeutics Trading Down 4.1%

Shares of NASDAQ GALT opened at $2.57 on Tuesday. Galectin Therapeutics has a 12-month low of $1.12 and a 12-month high of $7.13. The company has a market cap of $165.69 million, a P/E ratio of -4.36 and a beta of 0.98. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $2.98 and a 200 day moving average price of $4.23.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CEO Joel Lewis sold 37,698 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, January 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $3.58, for a total transaction of $134,958.84. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 832,592 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,980,679.36. This trade represents a 4.33% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, insider Khurram Jamil sold 25,499 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, January 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $3.90, for a total value of $99,446.10. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 21,446 shares in the company, valued at $83,639.40. This trade represents a 54.32% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders have sold a total of 204,000 shares of company stock worth $787,433 over the last quarter. 52.60% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Galectin Therapeutics

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Virtu Financial LLC boosted its stake in shares of Galectin Therapeutics by 37.4% in the fourth quarter. Virtu Financial LLC now owns 53,551 shares of the company’s stock valued at $223,000 after purchasing an additional 14,583 shares during the period. Invesco Ltd. purchased a new stake in Galectin Therapeutics during the 4th quarter worth $43,000. XTX Topco Ltd acquired a new position in Galectin Therapeutics in the 4th quarter worth $216,000. Wellington Management Group LLP acquired a new position in Galectin Therapeutics in the 4th quarter worth $592,000. Finally, Millennium Management LLC boosted its position in Galectin Therapeutics by 113.3% in the 4th quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 235,508 shares of the company’s stock valued at $980,000 after buying an additional 125,086 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 11.68% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have recently commented on the company. Weiss Ratings restated a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of Galectin Therapeutics in a report on Thursday, January 22nd. HC Wainwright boosted their target price on Galectin Therapeutics from $6.00 to $11.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 17th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $11.00.

Galectin Therapeutics Company Profile

Galectin Therapeutics, Inc is a clinical-stage biotechnology company focused on the development of novel therapies that target galectin proteins, which are implicated in fibrotic, inflammatory and malignant diseases. The company’s lead product candidate, belapectin (formerly GR-MD-02), is a galectin-3 inhibitor being evaluated in Phase 2 clinical trials for nonalcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH) with cirrhosis. In addition to its core pipeline in fibrotic liver disease, Galectin Therapeutics continues to explore the potential of its galectin inhibitors in oncology and other indications driven by abnormal tissue remodeling.

Founded in 2000, the company is headquartered in Norcross, Georgia, where it oversees discovery research, preclinical studies and clinical trial coordination.