Equillium (NASDAQ:EQ) Upgraded to “Outperform” at Leerink Partners

Equillium (NASDAQ:EQ) was upgraded by research analysts at Leerink Partners from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating in a report issued on Thursday, MarketBeat reports. The brokerage currently has a $6.00 price target on the stock. Leerink Partners’ target price would indicate a potential upside of 128.14% from the stock’s previous close.

Several other equities research analysts have also recently commented on the company. Roth Mkm reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $12.00 target price on shares of Equillium in a research note on Friday, April 17th. Oppenheimer began coverage on Equillium in a research note on Thursday, April 23rd. They set an “outperform” rating and a $7.00 price target on the stock. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of Equillium in a research note on Friday, March 27th. Stifel Nicolaus began coverage on Equillium in a research note on Wednesday, February 25th. They set a “buy” rating and a $5.00 price target on the stock. Finally, Zacks Research raised Equillium to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 26th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, six have assigned a Buy rating, one has issued a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Equillium has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $7.43.

Equillium Price Performance

Shares of EQ stock opened at $2.63 on Thursday. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $2.08 and its 200 day simple moving average is $1.62. The firm has a market cap of $166.29 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -8.22 and a beta of 1.67. Equillium has a one year low of $0.27 and a one year high of $2.74.

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

Insider Activity

In other Equillium news, COO Christine Zedelmayer sold 120,312 shares of Equillium stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $2.50, for a total value of $300,780.00. Following the sale, the chief operating officer owned 62,586 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $156,465. This trade represents a 65.78% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. 17.84% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Equillium

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Janus Henderson Group PLC boosted its position in Equillium by 10.8% during the first quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 6,494,571 shares of the company’s stock valued at $12,957,000 after purchasing an additional 632,359 shares during the last quarter. Eversept Partners LP acquired a new position in Equillium during the first quarter valued at approximately $2,998,000. OMERS ADMINISTRATION Corp acquired a new position in Equillium during the first quarter valued at approximately $100,000. Affinity Asset Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Equillium during the first quarter valued at approximately $2,453,000. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP acquired a new position in Equillium during the first quarter valued at approximately $31,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.