Equillium (NASDAQ:EQ) Stock Rating Upgraded by Wall Street Zen

Equillium (NASDAQ:EQ) was upgraded by investment analysts at Wall Street Zen from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report issued to clients and investors on Saturday.

Several other brokerages have also weighed in on EQ. Zacks Research upgraded Equillium from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 11th. Leerink Partners raised Equillium from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and lifted their target price for the stock from $1.00 to $6.00 in a report on Thursday, May 28th. Roth Capital reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $12.00 price target on shares of Equillium in a report on Thursday, May 28th. Oppenheimer initiated coverage on shares of Equillium in a research note on Thursday, April 23rd. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $7.00 price objective on the stock. Finally, Clear Str upgraded shares of Equillium to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 21st. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seven have assigned a Buy rating, one has given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $7.57.

Equillium Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ EQ opened at $2.36 on Friday. Equillium has a 1-year low of $0.76 and a 1-year high of $3.54. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $2.65 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $2.24. The firm has a market capitalization of $149.22 million, a PE ratio of -11.80 and a beta of 1.83.

Equillium (NASDAQ:EQ) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 13th. The company reported ($0.04) earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.05) by $0.01. Equities research analysts expect that Equillium will post -0.24 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Equillium

In related news, COO Christine Zedelmayer sold 86,012 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $2.80, for a total value of $240,833.60. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer directly owned 62,586 shares in the company, valued at approximately $175,240.80. This represents a 57.88% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible 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 the 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 transaction, the insider directly owned 65,000 shares in the company, valued at approximately $191,750. This represents a 50.00% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders have sold 406,392 shares of company stock worth $1,224,898 over the last 90 days. 17.84% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Equillium

Institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Jupiter Topco LLC bought a new position in Equillium during the second quarter worth $20,685,000. ADAR1 Capital Management LLC bought a new stake in Equillium in the 2nd quarter valued at $12,027,000. BlackRock Inc. bought a new stake in Equillium in the 2nd quarter valued at $913,000. Persistent Asset Partners Ltd acquired a new stake in Equillium in the 2nd quarter worth $326,000. Finally, Janus Henderson Group PLC grew its position in Equillium by 10.8% in the 1st quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 6,494,571 shares of the company’s stock worth $12,957,000 after purchasing an additional 632,359 shares during the last quarter. 27.05% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.