Lyell Immunopharma (NASDAQ:LYEL) Lowered to Sell Rating by Wall Street Zen

Key Points

• Wall Street Zen downgraded Lyell Immunopharma from a "hold" to a "sell"; analyst coverage is mixed (two Buy, one Sell) and MarketBeat's consensus rating remains "Hold" with an average target of $39.50.
• Lyell reported a large quarterly loss—EPS of ($7.68) versus a consensus of ($2.15) and only $0.01M in revenue—leaving the company with severely negative ROE and net margin; the stock opened at $19.67 with a 12‑month range of $7.65–$45 and a market cap near $458M.
• Company insiders have been selling recently (CEO Lynn Seely sold 7,455 shares), with 11,310 shares (~$264K) sold in the last three months, while insiders still own 22.30% of the stock and institutional investors hold 66.05%.

Lyell Immunopharma (NASDAQ:LYEL - Get Free Report) was downgraded by stock analysts at Wall Street Zen from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a report released on Saturday.

A number of other equities analysts also recently commented on the stock. Citizens Jmp began coverage on shares of Lyell Immunopharma in a research note on Monday, March 9th. They issued a "market outperform" rating and a $34.00 target price on the stock. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a "sell (d-)" rating on shares of Lyell Immunopharma in a research note on Thursday, January 22nd. Finally, HC Wainwright upgraded Lyell Immunopharma from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and boosted their price target for the company from $20.00 to $45.00 in a report on Tuesday, December 9th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Lyell Immunopharma currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $39.50.

Lyell Immunopharma Trading Down 2.7%

NASDAQ:LYEL opened at $19.67 on Friday. Lyell Immunopharma has a twelve month low of $7.65 and a twelve month high of $45.00. The company has a market cap of $458.45 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -1.21 and a beta of -0.14. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $23.24 and a 200-day simple moving average of $22.06.

Lyell Immunopharma (NASDAQ:LYEL - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, March 12th. The company reported ($7.68) EPS for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of ($2.15) by ($5.53). The company had revenue of $0.01 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $0.02 million. Lyell Immunopharma had a negative return on equity of 90.52% and a negative net margin of 762,355.56%. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Lyell Immunopharma will post -0.78 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO Lynn Seely sold 7,455 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $23.39, for a total value of $174,372.45. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 74,266 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,737,081.74. This represents a 9.12% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, insider Gary K. Lee sold 1,671 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $23.39, for a total transaction of $39,084.69. Following the transaction, the insider owned 16,938 shares in the company, valued at approximately $396,179.82. This represents a 8.98% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders have sold a total of 11,310 shares of company stock worth $264,285 in the last three months. Corporate insiders own 22.30% of the company's stock.

Institutional Trading of Lyell Immunopharma

A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of LYEL. ARCH Venture Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Lyell Immunopharma in the 2nd quarter worth $16,113,000. Foresite Capital Management V LLC boosted its position in Lyell Immunopharma by 17.3% during the third quarter. Foresite Capital Management V LLC now owns 477,078 shares of the company's stock valued at $7,748,000 after purchasing an additional 70,426 shares in the last quarter. RBF Capital LLC purchased a new position in Lyell Immunopharma in the second quarter valued at about $884,000. Takeda Pharmaceutical Co. Ltd. grew its stake in Lyell Immunopharma by 33.3% in the third quarter. Takeda Pharmaceutical Co. Ltd. now owns 54,887 shares of the company's stock valued at $891,000 after purchasing an additional 13,722 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Clarius Group LLC raised its holdings in Lyell Immunopharma by 4.3% in the third quarter. Clarius Group LLC now owns 19,958 shares of the company's stock worth $324,000 after purchasing an additional 820 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 66.05% of the company's stock.

Lyell Immunopharma Company Profile

Lyell Immunopharma is a clinical-stage biotechnology company focused on developing next-generation T cell therapies for cancer. Leveraging a proprietary platform that combines cell therapy, gene editing and molecular discovery, Lyell seeks to overcome key barriers in the treatment of solid tumors. The company's approach centers on engineering T cells to enhance their persistence, functionality and resistance to the immunosuppressive tumor microenvironment.

The company's pipeline includes multiple autologous T cell programs engineered to target tumor-associated antigens in solid malignancies such as melanoma, ovarian and pancreatic cancers.

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