Arcellx (NASDAQ:ACLX) Hits New 1-Year High – Should You Buy?

Arcellx, Inc. (NASDAQ:ACLX)’s stock price reached a new 52-week high on Monday . The stock traded as high as $114.35 and last traded at $114.0480, with a volume of 2400434 shares changing hands. The stock had previously closed at $64.11.

Arcellx News Roundup

Here are the key news stories impacting Arcellx this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Gilead Sciences agreed to acquire Arcellx for up to $7.8 billion — deal consideration is $115.00 per share in cash plus a contingent value right (CVR) worth $5.00 if milestones are met; the announcement is the proximate cause of the stock’s big jump. Reuters: Gilead to acquire Arcellx
• Positive Sentiment: Market reaction: shares surged strongly in premarket trading on the acquisition — investors priced the takeover premium into ACLX ahead of regulatory and shareholder reviews. Investopedia: Why ACLX jumped
• Neutral Sentiment: HC Wainwright published bullish long-term EPS projections (FY2030 EPS of $4.95) and has a Neutral rating with a $115 price objective — signals some analysts see material upside longer term, but currently assigns a conservative near-term stance. MarketBeat: HC Wainwright note
• Neutral Sentiment: Robert W. Baird changed its rating to Hold while nudging its target to $115 (from $106) — this reflects mixed analyst views: higher valuation assumptions but a more cautious recommendation. Benzinga: Baird note
• Negative Sentiment: Widespread analyst downgrades: several firms (Needham, Wells Fargo, Truist, Canaccord, Citigroup, Evercore, Leerink/SvB) moved ACLX to Hold/Equal Weight from Buy/Strong Buy — these downgrades reduce the buy-side conviction and can apply near-term selling pressure. Zacks/Benzinga aggregation of downgrades
• Negative Sentiment: Multiple shareholder law firms and investor alerts (Kahn Swick & Foti, Ademi, Halper Sadeh, M&A Class Action Firm, others) are investigating whether Arcellx shareholders are receiving a fair price and whether the sale process was adequate — ongoing litigation risk and potential deal scrutiny may weigh on sentiment and could complicate closing. BusinessWire: Investor alert on Arcellx sale

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Citigroup downgraded shares of Arcellx from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and increased their target price for the company from $110.00 to $115.00 in a research note on Tuesday. Truist Financial set a $120.00 price objective on shares of Arcellx in a research report on Monday. Canaccord Genuity Group set a $115.00 price objective on shares of Arcellx in a research note on Monday. Robert W. Baird reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and set a $115.00 target price (up from $106.00) on shares of Arcellx in a research note on Monday. Finally, William Blair downgraded Arcellx from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, fifteen have assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $111.64.

Arcellx Trading Down 0.0%

The company has a market capitalization of $6.57 billion, a PE ratio of -28.93 and a beta of 0.36. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $68.84 and its 200-day simple moving average is $75.38.

Insider Activity

In related news, insider Christopher Heery sold 5,882 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, January 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $68.51, for a total value of $402,975.82. Following the transaction, the insider owned 23,749 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,627,043.99. This represents a 19.85% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Insiders sold a total of 19,450 shares of company stock valued at $1,283,477 in the last ninety days. 8.35% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Arcellx

Hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. increased its stake in shares of Arcellx by 66.2% during the fourth quarter. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. now owns 10,560,425 shares of the company’s stock valued at $688,540,000 after buying an additional 4,208,069 shares during the period. Paradigm Biocapital Advisors LP grew its holdings in Arcellx by 23.1% during the 4th quarter. Paradigm Biocapital Advisors LP now owns 5,724,016 shares of the company’s stock worth $373,206,000 after acquiring an additional 1,075,000 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in Arcellx by 4.5% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 4,081,519 shares of the company’s stock worth $266,115,000 after acquiring an additional 174,432 shares in the last quarter. Vestal Point Capital LP increased its position in Arcellx by 134.0% during the 4th quarter. Vestal Point Capital LP now owns 2,925,000 shares of the company’s stock valued at $190,710,000 after purchasing an additional 1,675,000 shares during the period. Finally, State Street Corp raised its holdings in shares of Arcellx by 31.0% in the 4th quarter. State Street Corp now owns 1,998,503 shares of the company’s stock valued at $130,302,000 after purchasing an additional 472,476 shares in the last quarter. 96.03% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

About Arcellx

Arcellx, Inc (NASDAQ: ACLX) is a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company focused on the discovery, development and commercialization of next-generation cell therapies for oncology and autoimmune diseases. The company’s proprietary ARC-SparX™ platform is designed to enable precise control over cell-surface receptor activation and to improve the safety, efficacy and durability of adoptive cell therapies. Leveraging this technology, Arcellx engineers immune cells with modular antigen-binding domains that can be exchanged to target a variety of disease-associated markers.

The company’s pipeline comprises multiple wholly owned programs in hematologic malignancies and solid tumors at various stages of preclinical and clinical development.