Zacks Research Downgrades Equillium (NASDAQ:EQ) to Strong Sell

Equillium (NASDAQ:EQ) was downgraded by equities research analysts at Zacks Research from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a report released on Monday,Zacks.com reports.

A number of other brokerages have also recently issued reports on EQ. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of Equillium in a research note on Wednesday, June 24th. B. Riley Financial assumed coverage on shares of Equillium in a report on Thursday, April 16th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $6.00 target price on the stock. Stifel Nicolaus set a $5.00 price target on Equillium in a research report on Thursday, May 28th. Piper Sandler started coverage on Equillium in a research note on Monday. They issued an “overweight” rating on the stock. Finally, Roth Capital reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $12.00 target price on shares of Equillium in a research note on Thursday, May 28th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seven have assigned a Buy rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $7.57.

Equillium Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ EQ opened at $2.76 on Monday. The business has a 50-day moving average of $2.69 and a 200-day moving average of $2.06. The stock has a market capitalization of $174.51 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -8.62 and a beta of 1.77. Equillium has a fifty-two week low of $0.34 and a fifty-two week high of $3.54.

Equillium (NASDAQ:EQ) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, May 13th. The company reported ($0.06) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($0.04) by ($0.02). On average, sell-side analysts expect that Equillium will post -0.24 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Equillium

In related news, COO Christine Zedelmayer sold 14,584 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, June 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $2.93, for a total value of $42,731.12. Following the sale, the chief operating officer directly owned 62,586 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $183,376.98. This trade represents a 18.90% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, insider Penny Tom sold 65,000 shares of Equillium stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $2.95, for a total value of $191,750.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 65,000 shares in the company, valued at approximately $191,750. This represents a 50.00% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 406,392 shares of company stock valued at $1,224,898. 17.84% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Equillium by 59.4% during the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 1,313,946 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,879,000 after purchasing an additional 489,855 shares during the last quarter. Two Sigma Investments LP bought a new stake in shares of Equillium during the third quarter worth $190,000. ADAR1 Capital Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Equillium during the third quarter worth $7,951,000. Virtu Financial LLC increased its holdings in shares of Equillium by 133.4% during the third quarter. Virtu Financial LLC now owns 23,779 shares of the company’s stock worth $34,000 after buying an additional 13,591 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Schonfeld Strategic Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Equillium in the 3rd quarter valued at $178,000. Institutional investors own 27.05% of the company’s stock.

Equillium Company Profile

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.