AC Immune (NASDAQ:ACIU) Rating Lowered to "Hold" at Zacks Research

Key Points

• Zacks Research downgraded AC Immune from “strong buy” to “hold,” bringing the stock’s consensus rating to “hold” with an average price target of $7.50.
• AC Immune shares opened at $2.37, below their 50-day and 200-day moving averages, with a 52-week range of $2.03 to $3.90 and a market capitalization of approximately $241.2 million.
• The clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company exceeded quarterly revenue and earnings expectations, reporting $18.67 million in revenue and EPS of $0.03, although it continued to post deeply negative margins and return on equity.

AC Immune (NASDAQ:ACIU - Get Free Report) was downgraded by equities researchers at Zacks Research from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note issued on Wednesday, Zacks reports.

ACIU has been the topic of a number of other reports. BTIG Research reissued a "buy" rating and set a $8.00 target price on shares of AC Immune in a report on Wednesday, September 23rd. Weiss Ratings lowered shares of AC Immune from a "sell (d-)" rating to a "sell (e+)" rating in a report on Tuesday, October 20th. Finally, HC Wainwright reaffirmed a "buy" rating on shares of AC Immune in a research report on Thursday, September 24th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, one has given a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $7.50.

AC Immune Price Performance

NASDAQ:ACIU opened at $2.37 on Wednesday. The business's 50 day moving average is $2.62 and its two-hundred day moving average is $2.74. AC Immune has a 52 week low of $2.03 and a 52 week high of $3.90. The company has a market cap of $241.20 million, a PE ratio of -4.39 and a beta of 1.56.

AC Immune (NASDAQ:ACIU - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 6th. The company reported $0.03 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of ($0.10) by $0.13. AC Immune had a negative return on equity of 100.17% and a negative net margin of 245.32%. The business had revenue of $18.67 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $9.59 million. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that AC Immune will post -0.60 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership raised its stake in AC Immune by 8.0% in the 1st quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 405,658 shares of the company's stock valued at $1,116,000 after purchasing an additional 30,035 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its stake in AC Immune by 82.8% during the first quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 390,165 shares of the company's stock worth $1,071,000 after buying an additional 176,701 shares during the last quarter. Finally, AXQ Capital LP purchased a new stake in AC Immune in the 2nd quarter valued at $25,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 51.36% of the company's stock.

AC Immune Company Profile

AC Immune SA is a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company headquartered in Lausanne, Switzerland, focused on developing treatments and diagnostic products for neurodegenerative diseases. Its research primarily addresses Alzheimer's disease, Parkinson's disease and related disorders by targeting proteins believed to contribute to disease progression, including amyloid and tau.

The company's technology platforms include SupraAntigen, which supports the discovery of antibodies and vaccines, and Morphomer, which is used to identify small-molecule compounds that may prevent or modify the abnormal aggregation of disease-associated proteins.

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