Galapagos NV (NASDAQ:GLPG) Short Interest Up 25.4% in February

Galapagos NV (NASDAQ:GLPG) was the target of a large increase in short interest in February. As of February 28th, there was short interest totalling 2,170,000 shares, an increase of 25.4% from the February 13th total of 1,730,000 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 262,700 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 8.3 days. Approximately 4.5% of the shares of the stock are short sold.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have recently weighed in on GLPG. Barclays reissued an “underweight” rating on shares of Galapagos in a research note on Thursday, January 23rd. TD Cowen cut shares of Galapagos from a “strong-buy” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 9th. Kepler Capital Markets cut shares of Galapagos from a “hold” rating to a “reduce” rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 20th. Finally, Morgan Stanley cut shares of Galapagos from an “equal weight” rating to an “underweight” rating and dropped their price objective for the stock from $31.00 to $22.00 in a research note on Friday, February 14th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and five have issued a hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Galapagos has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $26.75.

Institutional Trading of Galapagos

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Wealthedge Investment Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Galapagos during the 4th quarter valued at $311,000. Woodline Partners LP purchased a new stake in shares of Galapagos during the 4th quarter valued at $1,262,000. Tang Capital Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Galapagos by 208.7% during the 4th quarter. Tang Capital Management LLC now owns 2,161,200 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $59,433,000 after buying an additional 1,461,200 shares during the period. Hudson Bay Capital Management LP grew its stake in shares of Galapagos by 8.7% during the 4th quarter. Hudson Bay Capital Management LP now owns 554,300 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $15,243,000 after buying an additional 44,300 shares during the period. Finally, Deep Track Capital LP purchased a new stake in shares of Galapagos during the 4th quarter valued at $21,471,000. 32.46% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Galapagos Stock Down 0.7 %

GLPG stock traded down $0.18 during midday trading on Tuesday, hitting $25.84. The stock had a trading volume of 156,626 shares, compared to its average volume of 183,512. Galapagos has a 12-month low of $22.36 and a 12-month high of $34.02. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $25.05 and its 200 day moving average price is $27.10.

About Galapagos

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.