Lyell Immunopharma (NASDAQ:LYEL) Shares Down 4% - Should You Sell?

Key Points

• Shares fell 4% to about $23.80 on Tuesday with mid-day volume around 26,958 shares, roughly 73% below the stock's average daily volume.
• Analysts are mixed — three Buy ratings and two Sell ratings result in an average consensus of Hold and an average target price of $41.
• Fundamentals are weak: the company reported a large quarterly EPS miss (−$7.68 vs. −$2.15 expected), negligible revenue and extreme negative margins, and insiders have sold shares over the past quarter.

Lyell Immunopharma, Inc. (NASDAQ:LYEL - Get Free Report)'s share price was down 4% during trading on Tuesday . The company traded as low as $23.85 and last traded at $23.8010. Approximately 26,958 shares changed hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 73% from the average daily volume of 101,711 shares. The stock had previously closed at $24.80.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts have commented on LYEL shares. Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of Lyell Immunopharma from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a report on Saturday, March 28th. Citizens Jmp started coverage on shares of Lyell Immunopharma in a report on Monday, March 9th. They issued a "market outperform" rating and a $34.00 price objective for the company. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a "sell (d-)" rating on shares of Lyell Immunopharma in a report on Thursday, January 22nd. Zacks Research downgraded shares of Lyell Immunopharma from a "hold" rating to a "strong sell" rating in a report on Tuesday, April 7th. Finally, Needham & Company LLC started coverage on shares of Lyell Immunopharma in a report on Friday. They issued a "buy" rating and a $44.00 price objective for the company. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $41.00.

Lyell Immunopharma Price Performance

The company has a market cap of $567.04 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -1.49 and a beta of -0.06. The firm's fifty day moving average price is $22.62 and its 200-day moving average price is $22.87.

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

Insider Activity

In related news, CEO Lynn Seely sold 7,455 shares of Lyell Immunopharma stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $23.39, for a total transaction of $174,372.45. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 74,266 shares in the company, valued at $1,737,081.74. The trade was a 9.12% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, insider Gary K. Lee sold 1,671 shares of Lyell Immunopharma stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $23.39, for a total transaction of $39,084.69. Following the sale, 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 SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 11,310 shares of company stock valued at $264,285. 22.30% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Lyell Immunopharma

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Foresite Capital Management V LLC raised its stake in shares of 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. GSK plc bought a new stake in shares of Lyell Immunopharma during the fourth quarter valued at about $46,560,000. ARCH Venture Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Lyell Immunopharma by 51.5% during the third quarter. ARCH Venture Management LLC now owns 2,759,072 shares of the company's stock valued at $44,807,000 after purchasing an additional 938,438 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Lyell Immunopharma by 25.1% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 162,997 shares of the company's stock valued at $5,020,000 after purchasing an additional 32,740 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Marshall Wace LLP bought a new stake in shares of Lyell Immunopharma during the fourth quarter valued at about $2,257,000. 66.05% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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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