Equillium, Inc. (NASDAQ:EQ) Receives Average Rating of "Moderate Buy" from Analysts

Key Points

• Equillium has an average analyst recommendation of "Moderate Buy" from eight firms (1 sell, 1 hold, 5 buy, 1 strong buy) with an average 12‑month price target of $7.67.
• Insiders have been net sellers recently — the COO sold 185,937 shares at $1.76 and insiders disposed of 487,468 shares (~$990K) over the last 90 days, with insiders holding 31.6% of the company.
• The stock opened at $2.08 (52‑week range $0.27–$2.70) with a market cap of about $131.5M, and Equillium beat the quarter with EPS of (‑$0.04) versus (‑$0.07) expected.

Equillium, Inc. (NASDAQ:EQ - Get Free Report) has received an average recommendation of "Moderate Buy" from the eight ratings firms that are currently covering the stock, MarketBeat Ratings reports. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has assigned a hold rating, five have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. The average 12 month price objective among brokerages that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $7.6667.

A number of equities analysts have recently commented on EQ shares. Cantor Fitzgerald started coverage on Equillium in a report on Tuesday, April 7th. They set an "overweight" rating and a $10.00 price target for the company. Weiss Ratings reissued a "sell (d-)" rating on shares of Equillium in a report on Friday, March 27th. Stifel Nicolaus started coverage on Equillium in a report on Wednesday, February 25th. They set a "buy" rating and a $5.00 price target for the company. Roth Mkm reaffirmed a "buy" rating and issued a $12.00 target price on shares of Equillium in a report on Friday, April 17th. Finally, Raymond James Financial started coverage on Equillium in a report on Monday, April 13th. They issued a "strong-buy" rating and a $6.00 target price for the company.

Insider Transactions at Equillium

In other Equillium news, COO Christine Zedelmayer sold 185,937 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $1.76, for a total value of $327,249.12. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer owned 191,444 shares of the company's stock, valued at $336,941.44. This represents a 49.27% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 487,468 shares of company stock valued at $990,467. 31.60% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Equillium

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of EQ. Aberdeen Group plc acquired a new position in Equillium in the 3rd quarter worth about $543,000. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in Equillium by 59.4% in the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 1,313,946 shares of the company's stock worth $1,879,000 after purchasing an additional 489,855 shares in the last quarter. Persistent Asset Partners Ltd acquired a new position in Equillium in the 3rd quarter worth about $99,000. Two Sigma Investments LP acquired a new position in Equillium in the 3rd quarter worth about $190,000. Finally, ADAR1 Capital Management LLC acquired a new position in Equillium in the 3rd quarter worth about $7,951,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 27.05% of the company's stock.

Equillium Stock Performance

Equillium stock opened at $2.08 on Friday. Equillium has a 52 week low of $0.27 and a 52 week high of $2.70. The stock has a market capitalization of $131.52 million, a P/E ratio of -4.16 and a beta of 1.68. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $1.98 and a 200-day moving average of $1.51.

Equillium (NASDAQ:EQ - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, March 25th. The company reported ($0.04) EPS for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of ($0.07) by $0.03. On average, research analysts forecast that Equillium will post -0.21 earnings per share for the current year.

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.

This instant news alert was generated by narrative science technology and financial data from MarketBeat in order to provide readers with the fastest reporting and unbiased coverage. Please send any questions or comments about this story to contact@marketbeat.com.