Wall Street Zen Downgrades Lyell Immunopharma (NASDAQ:LYEL) to Sell

Lyell Immunopharma (NASDAQ:LYEL) was downgraded by Wall Street Zen from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note issued on Saturday.

Several other equities analysts have also commented on the company. HC Wainwright raised Lyell Immunopharma from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their target price for the company from $20.00 to $45.00 in a report on Tuesday, December 9th. Weiss Ratings reissued a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of Lyell Immunopharma in a report on Thursday, January 22nd. Finally, Citizens Jmp started coverage on Lyell Immunopharma in a research report on Monday, March 9th. They set a “market outperform” rating and a $34.00 price objective for the company. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $39.50.

Lyell Immunopharma Stock Performance

Lyell Immunopharma stock opened at $19.67 on Friday. Lyell Immunopharma has a 1 year low of $7.65 and a 1 year high of $45.00. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $23.24 and its 200-day moving average is $22.19. The company has a market cap of $458.51 million, a P/E ratio of -1.21 and a beta of -0.14.

Lyell Immunopharma (NASDAQ:LYEL) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, March 12th. The company reported ($7.68) earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of ($2.15) by ($5.53). The business had revenue of $0.01 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $0.02 million. Lyell Immunopharma had a negative net margin of 762,355.56% and a negative return on equity of 90.52%. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Lyell Immunopharma will post -0.78 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity at Lyell Immunopharma

In other news, insider Gary K. Lee sold 1,671 shares of Lyell Immunopharma stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $23.39, for a total transaction of $39,084.69. Following the sale, the insider owned 16,938 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $396,179.82. The trade was a 8.98% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CEO Lynn Seely sold 7,455 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $23.39, for a total value of $174,372.45. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 74,266 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,737,081.74. This represents a 9.12% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders have sold a total of 11,310 shares of company stock worth $264,285 in the last ninety days. 22.30% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Lyell Immunopharma

Several large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Clarius Group LLC raised its stake in Lyell Immunopharma by 4.3% during the 3rd quarter. Clarius Group LLC now owns 19,958 shares of the company’s stock valued at $324,000 after acquiring an additional 820 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its stake in shares of Lyell Immunopharma by 7.4% in the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 85,423 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,629,000 after purchasing an additional 5,913 shares in the last quarter. BBR Partners LLC bought a new position in shares of Lyell Immunopharma in the fourth quarter worth $210,000. ExodusPoint Capital Management LP acquired a new position in shares of Lyell Immunopharma during the fourth quarter valued at $262,000. Finally, Marshall Wace LLP acquired a new position in shares of Lyell Immunopharma during the second quarter valued at $94,000. 66.05% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Lyell Immunopharma Company Profile

Lyell Immunopharma is a clinical-stage biotechnology company focused on developing next-generation T cell therapies for cancer. Leveraging a proprietary platform that combines cell therapy, gene editing and molecular discovery, Lyell seeks to overcome key barriers in the treatment of solid tumors. The company’s approach centers on engineering T cells to enhance their persistence, functionality and resistance to the immunosuppressive tumor microenvironment.

The company’s pipeline includes multiple autologous T cell programs engineered to target tumor-associated antigens in solid malignancies such as melanoma, ovarian and pancreatic cancers.