Equillium (NASDAQ:EQ) Rating Lowered to “Sell” at Wall Street Zen

Equillium (NASDAQ:EQ) was downgraded by stock analysts at Wall Street Zen from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report issued on Saturday.

Several other research analysts have also weighed in on the stock. Cantor Fitzgerald initiated coverage on shares of Equillium in a report on Tuesday, April 7th. They set an “overweight” rating and a $10.00 price objective for the company. B. Riley Financial initiated coverage on Equillium in a research report on Thursday, April 16th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $6.00 target price on the stock. Raymond James Financial restated a “strong-buy” rating and issued a $7.00 price target on shares of Equillium in a research note on Thursday, May 28th. Oppenheimer initiated coverage on shares of Equillium in a research note on Thursday, April 23rd. They set an “outperform” rating and a $7.00 price objective on the stock. Finally, Weiss Ratings reissued a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of Equillium in a report on Wednesday. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, six have issued a Buy rating, one has issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Equillium presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $7.57.

Equillium Stock Performance

Shares of EQ stock opened at $3.02 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $191.02 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -9.44 and a beta of 1.77. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $2.49 and a 200 day moving average price of $1.91. Equillium has a one year low of $0.29 and a one year high of $3.45.

Equillium (NASDAQ:EQ) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, May 13th. The company reported ($0.06) earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.04) by ($0.02). As a group, equities analysts forecast that Equillium will post -0.24 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, COO Christine Zedelmayer sold 86,012 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $2.80, for a total value of $240,833.60. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer directly owned 62,586 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $175,240.80. This trade represents a 57.88% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, insider Stephen Connelly sold 200,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, June 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $3.16, for a total transaction of $632,000.00. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 793,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,505,880. This represents a 20.14% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders have sold 406,392 shares of company stock valued at $1,224,898 over the last three months. 17.84% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Equillium

Institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Cantor Fitzgerald L. P. bought a new position in Equillium in the third quarter valued at approximately $608,000. Aberdeen Group plc boosted its stake in shares of Equillium by 523.6% during the 4th quarter. Aberdeen Group plc now owns 2,366,688 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,668,000 after buying an additional 1,987,162 shares during the last quarter. Hudson Bay Capital Management LP acquired a new position in Equillium during the third quarter valued at approximately $398,000. OMERS ADMINISTRATION Corp bought a new position in shares of Equillium in the first quarter valued at $100,000. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP bought a new position in shares of Equillium in the 1st quarter valued at about $31,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 27.05% of the company’s stock.

About Equillium

Equillium, Inc (NASDAQ: EQ) is a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company focused on developing novel immunotherapies to treat severe autoimmune diseases and prevent organ transplant rejection. The company’s lead therapeutic candidate, EQ001 (itolizumab), is a humanized monoclonal antibody that modulates T-cell activation by targeting the CD6 receptor. Equillium’s pipeline also includes additional biologic candidates aimed at addressing indications such as acute graft-versus-host disease (GVHD) and lupus nephritis.

Founded in 2015 and headquartered in La Jolla, California, Equillium in-licensed itolizumab from Biocon Limited, leveraging the antibody’s established safety profile in earlier clinical studies.