Citizens Jmp Initiates Coverage on Annexon (NASDAQ:ANNX)

Stock analysts at Citizens Jmp started coverage on shares of Annexon (NASDAQ:ANNX) in a research note issued to investors on Tuesday, MarketBeat reports. The brokerage set a “market underperform” rating and a $3.00 price target on the stock. Citizens Jmp’s target price would suggest a potential downside of 42.64% from the company’s current price.

Other equities research analysts have also recently issued research reports about the company. Wall Street Zen cut Annexon from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Sunday, July 12th. HC Wainwright reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $14.00 price target on shares of Annexon in a research note on Monday. The Goldman Sachs Group initiated coverage on shares of Annexon in a research note on Tuesday, May 12th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $7.00 price objective on the stock. Weiss Ratings reissued a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of Annexon in a research note on Friday, July 17th. Finally, Citigroup initiated coverage on shares of Annexon in a report on Tuesday. They issued a “market underperform” rating for the company. Five analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, two have assigned a Hold rating and three have assigned a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $15.33.

Annexon Trading Down 3.0%

Shares of NASDAQ ANNX opened at $5.23 on Tuesday. Annexon has a 12-month low of $2.03 and a 12-month high of $7.18. The company has a market cap of $856.88 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -4.29 and a beta of 1.16. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $5.36 and its 200 day simple moving average is $5.59.

Annexon (NASDAQ:ANNX) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 7th. The company reported ($0.23) EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.30) by $0.07. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Annexon will post -0.92 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director William H. Carson acquired 8,000 shares of Annexon stock in a transaction dated Monday, May 11th. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $5.78 per share, with a total value of $46,240.00. Following the purchase, the director directly owned 78,405 shares in the company, valued at $453,180.90. The trade was a 11.36% increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, Director Muneer A. Satter bought 613,497 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 28th. The shares were bought at an average cost of $5.41 per share, for a total transaction of $3,319,018.77. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 10,342,134 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $55,950,944.94. This trade represents a 6.31% increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase is available in the SEC filing. Company insiders own 10.31% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Annexon

A number of institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Redmile Group LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Annexon by 44.8% in the first quarter. Redmile Group LLC now owns 14,549,768 shares of the company’s stock worth $80,606,000 after buying an additional 4,499,124 shares during the period. BVF Inc. IL lifted its position in shares of Annexon by 30.4% in the 4th quarter. BVF Inc. IL now owns 9,128,080 shares of the company’s stock valued at $45,823,000 after acquiring an additional 2,128,080 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in Annexon by 8.7% in the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 5,835,112 shares of the company’s stock worth $17,797,000 after purchasing an additional 469,073 shares during the period. Adage Capital Partners GP L.L.C. boosted its stake in Annexon by 266.7% in the 4th quarter. Adage Capital Partners GP L.L.C. now owns 5,500,000 shares of the company’s stock worth $27,610,000 after purchasing an additional 4,000,000 shares during the period. Finally, State Street Corp grew its position in Annexon by 126.9% during the 4th quarter. State Street Corp now owns 4,652,185 shares of the company’s stock worth $23,354,000 after purchasing an additional 2,601,877 shares in the last quarter.

Annexon Company Profile

Annexon Inc is a clinical-stage biotechnology company focused on the discovery and development of complement-targeted therapies for patients with neurodegenerative and neuroimmune diseases. The company’s research platform centers on the inhibition of the C1 complex, a key initiator of the classical complement pathway implicated in several rare and life-threatening disorders. By selectively targeting upstream complement activation, Annexon aims to prevent the aberrant immune-mediated damage that characterizes conditions such as Guillain-Barré syndrome (GBS) and autoimmune neuropathies.

At the core of Annexon’s pipeline is ANX005, a humanized monoclonal antibody directed against the C1q subcomponent, currently in Phase 2 clinical trials for acute GBS and chronic neurodegenerative indications.