Short Interest in Equillium, Inc. (NASDAQ:EQ) Grows By 36.6%

Key Points

• Short interest jumped 36.6% to 2,727,834 shares as of March 31, representing 6.3% of the stock and a days-to-cover of 5.7, indicating rising bearish bets.
• Significant insider selling: COO Christine Zedelmayer sold 120,312 shares (reducing her stake by ~65.8%), and insiders sold 487,468 shares worth about $990,467 in the past three months.
• Analysts are cautiously bullish: the consensus rating is "Moderate Buy" with an average target of $8.25, while EQ trades near $2.05 and has a market cap of roughly $130 million.

Equillium, Inc. (NASDAQ:EQ - Get Free Report) saw a large growth in short interest in the month of March. As of March 31st, there was short interest totaling 2,727,834 shares, a growth of 36.6% from the March 15th total of 1,996,887 shares. Currently, 6.3% of the company's shares are short sold. Based on an average trading volume of 476,909 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 5.7 days.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages recently weighed in on EQ. Raymond James Financial began coverage on Equillium in a report on Monday. They set a "strong-buy" rating and a $6.00 target price for the company. Weiss Ratings restated a "sell (d-)" rating on shares of Equillium in a report on Friday, March 27th. Stifel Nicolaus started coverage on shares of Equillium in a research note on Wednesday, February 25th. They set a "buy" rating and a $5.00 price objective for the company. Cantor Fitzgerald initiated coverage on shares of Equillium in a research note on Tuesday, April 7th. They set an "overweight" rating and a $10.00 price objective for the company. Finally, Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Equillium from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Saturday, March 14th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, three have assigned a Buy rating, one has assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $8.25.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, COO Christine Zedelmayer sold 120,312 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $2.50, for a total transaction of $300,780.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer directly owned 62,586 shares in the company, valued at $156,465. This represents a 65.78% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. In the last three months, insiders sold 487,468 shares of company stock worth $990,467. Corporate insiders own 30.30% of the company's stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Equillium

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Virtu Financial LLC increased its position in shares of Equillium by 133.4% during the third quarter. Virtu Financial LLC now owns 23,779 shares of the company's stock valued at $34,000 after buying an additional 13,591 shares during the period. State Street Corp increased its position in shares of Equillium by 13.0% during the fourth quarter. State Street Corp now owns 155,420 shares of the company's stock valued at $241,000 after buying an additional 17,900 shares during the period. Persistent Asset Partners Ltd raised its position in shares of Equillium by 35.0% in the 4th quarter. Persistent Asset Partners Ltd now owns 93,123 shares of the company's stock worth $144,000 after acquiring an additional 24,132 shares in the last quarter. Millennium Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Equillium in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $35,000. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC raised its position in shares of Equillium by 11.1% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 345,310 shares of the company's stock worth $535,000 after acquiring an additional 34,491 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 27.05% of the company's stock.

Equillium Stock Performance

EQ stock traded up $0.13 on Wednesday, reaching $2.05. The company's stock had a trading volume of 646,881 shares, compared to its average volume of 521,288. The firm has a market cap of $129.62 million, a PE ratio of -4.10 and a beta of 1.75. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $1.86 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $1.46. Equillium has a 12-month low of $0.27 and a 12-month high of $2.70.

Equillium (NASDAQ:EQ - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, March 25th. The company reported ($0.04) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of ($0.07) by $0.03. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Equillium will post 0.14 earnings per share for the current fiscal 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.

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