Galectin Therapeutics: 7 Different Insiders Have Purchased Shares This Month

In this article, I will feature one healthcare company that has seen intensive insider buying during the last 30 days. Intensive insider buying can be defined by the following three criteria:

1. The stock is purchased by three or more insiders within one month.


2. The stock is sold by no insiders in the month of intensive purchasing.


3. At least two purchasers increased their holdings by more than 10%.

Galectin Therapeutics (GALT) engages in the development of therapies for cancer and fibrotic disease.

(click to enlarge)

Insider buying during the last 30 days

Here is a table of Galectin Therapeutics' insider-trading activity during the last 30 days by insider.

Name	Title	Trade Date	Shares Purchased	Rule 10b5-1 Plan	Current Ownership	Increase In Shares
Jack Callicutt	CFO	Nov 19	260	No	260 shares	from 0 to 260
Arthur Greenberg	Director	Nov 19	2,000	No	95,667 shares	+2.1%
Peter Traber	CEO	Nov 18-19	2,000	No	95,333 shares	+2.1%
Kevin Freeman	Director	Nov 18	1,000	No	2,917 shares	+52.2%
Harold Shlevin	COO	Nov 18	500	No	53,914 shares	+0.9%
James Czirr	Chairman	Nov 15	1,000	No	844,450 shares	+0.1%
John Mauldin	Director	Nov 1	478	Yes	21,794 shares	+2.2%

There have been 7,238 shares purchased by insiders during the last 30 days.

Insider buying by calendar month

Here is a table of Galectin Therapeutics' insider-trading activity by calendar month.

Month	Insider buying / shares	Insider selling / shares
November 2013	7,238	0
October 2013	501	112,000
September 2013	676	0
August 2013	840	0
July 2013	1,176	0
June 2013	1,176	0
May 2013	1,000	0
April 2013	0	0
March 2013	0	0
February 2013	0	0
January 2013	0	0

There have been 12,607 shares purchased and there have been 112,000 shares sold by insiders this year. The month of November has seen the most insider buying.

Financials

Galectin Therapeutics reported the third-quarter financial results on November 12 with the following highlights:

Revenue	$0
Net loss	$3.7 million
Cash	$9.7 million

Subsequent to quarter end, Galectin Therapeutics received $1.6 million from the exercise of warrants and options, with $1.5 million coming from warrant exercises by 10X Fund L.P. Additionally since September 30, 2013, the company received $0.5 million in net proceeds from the issuance of 50,643 shares through its at market stock issuance program at an average price per share of $10.82.

Outlook

Galectin Therapeutics believes that the cash on hand at quarter end and already received is sufficient to fund operations and planned research and development into the third quarter of 2014.

Pipeline and upcoming milestones

Galectin Therapeutics is developing carbohydrate-based therapies for the treatment of fibrotic liver disease and cancer based on the company's unique understanding of galectin proteins, key mediators of biologic function.

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(Source: Galectin Therapeutics)

Galectin Therapeutics has the following upcoming data readouts for its fibrosis drug candidate GR-MD-02 currently in Phase 1 trial.

Cohort 1	Data to be reported Feb-Mar 2014
Cohort 2	Data to be reported Jun-Jul 2014
Cohort 3	Data to be reported Sept-Oct 2014

Competition

Galectin Therapeutics' competitors in NASH include Raptor Pharmaceuticals (RPTP), and Intercept Pharmaceuticals (ICPT). Raptor expects data from its NAFLD Phase 2 trial in the second half of 2014. Intercept expects final results from its Phase 2b NASH trial in late 2014. Here is a table comparing these companies.

Company GALT RPTP ICPT Market Cap: 158.02M 847.65M 1.01B Employees: 5 41 25 Qtrly Rev Growth (yoy): N/A N/A -0.23 Revenue: N/A N/A 1.62M Gross Margin: N/A N/A 1.00 EBITDA: -11.14M N/A -32.18M Operating Margin: N/A N/A -19.91 Net Income: -12.15M N/A -86.24M EPS: -0.76 -0.84 -5.08 P/S: N/A N/A 619.53

Galectin Therapeutics doesn't have any revenues yet.

Here is a table of these competitors' insider-trading activities this year.

Company	Insider buying / shares	Insider selling / shares
RPTP	0	225,151
ICPT	0	1,980,235

Only Galectin Therapeutics has seen intensive insider buying during the last 30 days.

Conclusion

There have been seven different insiders buying Galectin Therapeutics and there have not been any insiders selling Galectin Therapeutics during the last 30 days. Two of these seven insiders increased their holdings by more than 10%. Galectin Therapeutics has an insider ownership of 6.60%.

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(Source: November presentation)

There are two analyst buy ratings, zero neutral ratings, and zero sell ratings with an average price target of $11.50. The next catalysts for the stock will be the NASH data readouts starting in February 2014. The insiders purchased most of their shares in November around $6, which could be a good entry point for the stock.

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(Source: November presentation)

Source: Galectin Therapeutics: 7 Different Insiders Have Purchased Shares This Month

Disclosure: I have no positions in any stocks mentioned, but may initiate a long position in GALT over the next 72 hours. I wrote this article myself, and it expresses my own opinions. I am not receiving compensation for it (other than from Seeking Alpha). I have no business relationship with any company whose stock is mentioned in this article. (More...)

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