ADAR1 Capital Management LLC Acquires Shares of 3,758,569 Equillium, Inc. $EQ

Key Points

• ADAR1 Capital Management acquired 3.76 million Equillium shares valued at approximately $12.0 million, giving it a 5.94% stake. Institutional investors collectively own 27.05% of the company.
• Equillium insiders sold 396,571 shares worth about $1.2 million over the past 90 days, including substantial reductions by insider Stephen Connelly and COO Christine Zedelmayer.
• Analysts maintain a generally positive view, with a consensus “Moderate Buy” rating and a $7.57 price target, compared with the stock’s recent price of $2.18.

ADAR1 Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Equillium, Inc. (NASDAQ:EQ - Free Report) in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm acquired 3,758,569 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $12,027,000. ADAR1 Capital Management LLC owned approximately 5.94% of Equillium as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Janus Henderson Group PLC purchased a new position in Equillium during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $9,057,000. Woodline Partners LP purchased a new stake in shares of Equillium during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $5,018,000. Eversept Partners LP bought a new position in shares of Equillium during the 1st quarter valued at approximately $2,998,000. Affinity Asset Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Equillium during the 1st quarter valued at approximately $2,453,000. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of Equillium by 59.4% during the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 1,313,946 shares of the company's stock valued at $1,879,000 after acquiring an additional 489,855 shares during the last quarter. 27.05% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, insider Stephen Connelly sold 200,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, June 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $3.16, for a total transaction of $632,000.00. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 793,000 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,505,880. This represents a 20.14% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, COO Christine Zedelmayer sold 86,012 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $2.80, for a total transaction of $240,833.60. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer owned 62,586 shares in the company, valued at $175,240.80. The trade was a 57.88% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 396,571 shares of company stock valued at $1,198,381. Company insiders own 17.84% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages recently weighed in on EQ. Raymond James Financial restated a "strong-buy" rating and issued a $7.00 price target on shares of Equillium in a research report on Thursday, May 28th. Leerink Partners upgraded shares of Equillium from a "market perform" rating to an "outperform" rating and increased their price objective for the company from $1.00 to $6.00 in a research report on Thursday, May 28th. Stifel Nicolaus set a $5.00 price objective on shares of Equillium in a research note on Thursday, May 28th. Clear Str upgraded shares of Equillium to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Tuesday, July 21st. Finally, Zacks Research upgraded shares of Equillium from a "strong sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 11th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seven have issued a Buy rating, one has issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $7.57.

Equillium Stock Performance

NASDAQ EQ opened at $2.18 on Wednesday. The company has a market cap of $138.23 million, a P/E ratio of -10.90 and a beta of 1.82. The business's 50 day moving average price is $2.59 and its 200-day moving average price is $2.28. Equillium, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $0.76 and a fifty-two week high of $3.54.

Equillium (NASDAQ:EQ - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 13th. The company reported ($0.04) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of ($0.05) by $0.01. As a group, equities analysts predict that Equillium, Inc. will post -0.21 EPS for the current year.

Equillium 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.

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