Equillium, Inc. (NASDAQ:EQ) Receives Consensus Rating of “Moderate Buy” from Brokerages

Equillium, Inc. (NASDAQ:EQ) has received a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” from the ten brokerages that are currently covering the firm, Marketbeat reports. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. The average 1 year price objective among analysts that have covered the stock in the last year is $7.5714.

A number of research firms have weighed in on EQ. Roth Capital reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $12.00 price objective on shares of Equillium in a research report on Thursday, May 28th. Cantor Fitzgerald initiated coverage on Equillium in a report on Tuesday, April 7th. They issued an “overweight” rating and a $10.00 price target for the company. Piper Sandler began coverage on Equillium in a research note on Monday. They set an “overweight” rating for the company. Oppenheimer initiated coverage on shares of Equillium in a research note on Thursday, April 23rd. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $7.00 target price on the stock. Finally, Leerink Partners raised shares of Equillium from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and boosted their target price for the stock from $1.00 to $6.00 in a research report on Thursday, May 28th.

Equillium Stock Down 5.1%

Shares of NASDAQ EQ opened at $2.62 on Thursday. The firm has a market cap of $165.65 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -8.19 and a beta of 1.77. The business’s 50 day moving average is $2.70 and its two-hundred day moving average is $2.07. Equillium has a 52-week low of $0.36 and a 52-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 analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.04) by ($0.02). Analysts anticipate that Equillium will post -0.24 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, COO Christine Zedelmayer sold 14,584 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, June 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $2.93, for a total transaction of $42,731.12. Following the sale, the chief operating officer directly owned 62,586 shares in the company, valued at approximately $183,376.98. This represents a 18.90% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, insider Penny Tom sold 65,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $2.95, for a total transaction of $191,750.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 65,000 shares in the company, valued at $191,750. The trade was 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 a total of 406,392 shares of company stock worth $1,224,898 over the last quarter. 17.84% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Equillium

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Janus Henderson Group PLC purchased a new position in shares of Equillium during the 4th quarter valued at $9,057,000. ADAR1 Capital Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Equillium in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $7,951,000. Woodline Partners LP acquired a new stake in shares of Equillium in the third quarter worth $5,018,000. Aberdeen Group plc raised its holdings in Equillium by 523.6% in the 4th quarter. Aberdeen Group plc now owns 2,366,688 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,668,000 after acquiring an additional 1,987,162 shares during the period. Finally, Eversept Partners LP acquired a new position in shares of Equillium during the 1st quarter worth about $2,998,000. 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.