Galapagos NV (NASDAQ:GLPG) Short Interest Down 6.6% in October

Galapagos NV (NASDAQ:GLPG) was the recipient of a large drop in short interest in the month of October. As of October 31st, there was short interest totalling 1,420,000 shares, a drop of 6.6% from the October 15th total of 1,520,000 shares. Currently, 2.2% of the shares of the company are sold short. Based on an average trading volume of 178,400 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 8.0 days.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Galapagos

Several large investors have recently bought and sold shares of GLPG. Stonepine Capital Management LLC raised its stake in Galapagos by 23.2% during the 2nd quarter. Stonepine Capital Management LLC now owns 485,000 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $12,018,000 after purchasing an additional 91,366 shares during the last quarter. DME Capital Management LP increased its holdings in Galapagos by 46.9% in the 2nd quarter. DME Capital Management LP now owns 234,828 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $5,819,000 after buying an additional 75,000 shares during the period. Crossmark Global Holdings Inc. bought a new stake in Galapagos in the 3rd quarter valued at $1,077,000. Creative Planning bought a new stake in Galapagos in the 2nd quarter valued at $456,000. Finally, Millennium Management LLC increased its holdings in Galapagos by 5.3% in the 2nd quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 341,639 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $8,466,000 after buying an additional 17,089 shares during the period. 32.46% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Galapagos Trading Down 1.1 %

NASDAQ:GLPG opened at $26.69 on Wednesday. Galapagos has a one year low of $24.16 and a one year high of $42.46. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $28.83 and a 200 day moving average price of $27.56.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

GLPG has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Royal Bank of Canada decreased their price target on shares of Galapagos from $32.00 to $30.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a report on Friday, November 1st. Leerink Partnrs upgraded Galapagos to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, September 9th. Raymond James lowered Galapagos from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a report on Friday, August 2nd. Finally, Leerink Partners initiated coverage on Galapagos in a report on Monday, September 9th. They set a “market perform” rating and a $24.00 price target for the company. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating and six have given a hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $30.75.

Galapagos Company Profile

Galapagos NV, a biotechnology company, develops medicines focusing on oncology and immunology primarily in the United States and Europe. The company's pipeline products comprise GLPG3667 that has completed phase 1b trial; GLPG5101, a CD19 CAR-T product candidate manufactured at point-of-care, currently in Phase1/2 trial in relapsed/refractory non-hodgkin lymphoma; GLPG5201, a CD19 CAR-T product candidates manufactured at point-of-care, currently in phase 1/2 trial in replapsed/refractory chronic lymphocytic leukemia; and GLPG5301, a BCMA CAR-T product candidate manufactured at point-of-care, currently in phase 1/2 in relapsed/refractory multiple myeloma.