Denali Therapeutics Inc. (NASDAQ:DNLI) Sees Large Growth in Short Interest

Denali Therapeutics Inc. (NASDAQ:DNLI) was the target of a significant increase in short interest in the month of December. As of December 31st, there was short interest totalling 7,840,000 shares, an increase of 5.1% from the December 15th total of 7,460,000 shares. Currently, 6.3% of the shares of the company are sold short. Based on an average trading volume of 868,500 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 9.0 days.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms recently commented on DNLI. Raymond James reaffirmed a “market perform” rating on shares of Denali Therapeutics in a research note on Thursday, October 10th. HC Wainwright dropped their target price on shares of Denali Therapeutics from $90.00 to $87.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th. William Blair reissued an “outperform” rating on shares of Denali Therapeutics in a research note on Wednesday, January 15th. Jefferies Financial Group upped their target price on Denali Therapeutics from $40.00 to $45.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus raised Denali Therapeutics from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $37.00 target price on the stock in a report on Monday, December 16th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eleven have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Denali Therapeutics presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $38.91.

Denali Therapeutics Price Performance

Denali Therapeutics stock opened at $21.93 on Tuesday. The business has a 50 day moving average of $22.94 and a 200-day moving average of $24.79. The company has a market capitalization of $3.16 billion, a P/E ratio of -7.95 and a beta of 1.39. Denali Therapeutics has a 1 year low of $14.56 and a 1 year high of $33.33.

Denali Therapeutics (NASDAQ:DNLI) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, November 6th. The company reported ($0.63) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($0.60) by ($0.03). During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted ($0.72) EPS. Equities analysts anticipate that Denali Therapeutics will post -2.73 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Vicki L. Sato sold 1,020 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, November 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $30.00, for a total transaction of $30,600.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 111,056 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,331,680. This represents a 0.91 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director Steve E. Krognes sold 3,339 shares of Denali Therapeutics stock in a transaction on Tuesday, January 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $20.81, for a total value of $69,484.59. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 25,757 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $536,003.17. This represents a 11.48 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 64,518 shares of company stock valued at $1,469,382. 7.90% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Wellington Management Group LLP raised its position in shares of Denali Therapeutics by 9.2% during the third quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 10,727,450 shares of the company’s stock worth $312,491,000 after acquiring an additional 903,683 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC raised its holdings in Denali Therapeutics by 3,234.3% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 7,831,378 shares of the company’s stock worth $228,128,000 after purchasing an additional 7,596,508 shares during the last quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC raised its holdings in Denali Therapeutics by 63.2% during the 3rd quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 3,749,486 shares of the company’s stock worth $109,223,000 after purchasing an additional 1,451,770 shares during the last quarter. Marshall Wace LLP lifted its position in shares of Denali Therapeutics by 12.7% in the 2nd quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 2,418,833 shares of the company’s stock worth $56,165,000 after purchasing an additional 272,454 shares during the period. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its stake in shares of Denali Therapeutics by 6.3% in the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,417,472 shares of the company’s stock valued at $32,913,000 after purchasing an additional 84,522 shares during the last quarter. 92.92% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Denali Therapeutics Company Profile

Denali Therapeutics Inc, a biopharmaceutical company, develops a portfolio of product candidates engineered to cross the blood-brain barrier for neurodegenerative diseases and lysosomal storage diseases in the United States. The company’s transport vehicle (TV)-enabled programs include DNL310 ETV, an IDS enzyme replacement therapy program for MPS II; TAK-594/DNL593 which is in Phase 1/II for frontotemporal dementia-granulin; DNL126 program for MPS IIIA; and DNL622 for MPS I, as well as other preclinical programs that target amyloid beta and HER2.