Aprea Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:APRE) Sees Large Drop in Short Interest

Aprea Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:APRE) was the recipient of a significant drop in short interest during the month of August. As of August 14th, there was short interest totaling 5,487 shares, a drop of 86.6% from the July 30th total of 41,083 shares. Approximately 0.0% of the company’s stock are sold short. Based on an average daily volume of 46,742 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 0.1 days.

Aprea Therapeutics Trading Down 3.2%

Aprea Therapeutics stock traded down $0.03 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $0.83. 123,918 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,001,988. The stock has a market cap of $10.48 million, a P/E ratio of -0.77 and a beta of 1.52. Aprea Therapeutics has a 1-year low of $0.55 and a 1-year high of $1.69. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $0.71 and a two-hundred day moving average of $0.77.

Aprea Therapeutics (NASDAQ:APRE) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, August 12th. The company reported ($0.07) earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.18) by $0.11. Aprea Therapeutics had a negative return on equity of 47.60% and a negative net margin of 4,405.59%. As a group, research analysts predict that Aprea Therapeutics will post -0.32 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Aprea Therapeutics

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in APRE. Jane Street Group LLC acquired a new position in Aprea Therapeutics during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $40,000. DRW Securities LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Aprea Therapeutics in the fourth quarter worth $103,000. Finally, AIGH Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Aprea Therapeutics by 174.1% during the 1st quarter. AIGH Capital Management LLC now owns 1,015,541 shares of the company’s stock worth $775,000 after buying an additional 645,000 shares during the period. 34.19% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages have weighed in on APRE. Wedbush dropped their target price on Aprea Therapeutics to $3.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, August 13th. Oppenheimer initiated coverage on Aprea Therapeutics in a report on Thursday, May 7th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $5.00 price objective on the stock. Finally, Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “sell (e+)” rating on shares of Aprea Therapeutics in a research report on Friday, July 17th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, one has issued a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Aprea Therapeutics has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $3.07.

About Aprea Therapeutics

Aprea Therapeutics is a clinical?stage biopharmaceutical company dedicated to developing targeted therapies that restore tumor suppressor function in cancers driven by TP53 mutations. The company’s lead investigational agent, eprenetapopt (APR-246), is designed to convert mutant p53 protein into a form that induces programmed cell death in malignant cells. Aprea’s research focuses on hematologic malignancies, including myelodysplastic syndromes (MDS) and acute myeloid leukemia (AML), as well as solid tumors harboring TP53 mutations.

Eprenetapopt has advanced through multiple clinical trials, including pivotal studies assessing its efficacy in combination with hypomethylating agents for patients with MDS.