Equillium, Inc. (NASDAQ:EQ) Receives Average Recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from Brokerages

Shares of Equillium, Inc. (NASDAQ:EQ) have earned a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the eleven ratings firms that are currently covering the stock, Marketbeat reports. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has assigned a hold rating, seven have given a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company. The average 12 month target price among brokers that have covered the stock in the last year is $7.5714.

EQ has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Clear Str upgraded Equillium to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 21st. Leerink Partners upgraded shares of Equillium from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and upped their price objective for the company from $1.00 to $6.00 in a report on Thursday, May 28th. Zacks Research raised shares of Equillium from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 11th. Stifel Nicolaus set a $5.00 target price on shares of Equillium in a research note on Thursday, May 28th. Finally, Roth Capital reissued a “buy” rating and set a $12.00 target price on shares of Equillium in a research report on Thursday, May 28th.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, insider Penny Tom sold 65,000 shares of Equillium stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $2.95, for a total transaction of $191,750.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 65,000 shares in the company, valued at approximately $191,750. The trade was a 50.00% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, insider Stephen Connelly sold 200,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, June 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $3.16, for a total transaction of $632,000.00. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 793,000 shares in the company, valued at $2,505,880. This trade represents a 20.14% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 406,392 shares of company stock valued at $1,224,898. Insiders own 17.84% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Equillium

Large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Jupiter Topco LLC acquired a new position in shares of Equillium in the second quarter valued at about $20,685,000. ADAR1 Capital Management LLC purchased a new stake in Equillium in the second quarter valued at approximately $12,027,000. BlackRock Inc. purchased a new stake in Equillium in the second quarter valued at approximately $913,000. Persistent Asset Partners Ltd acquired a new position in Equillium in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $326,000. Finally, Janus Henderson Group PLC increased its holdings in Equillium by 10.8% in the 1st quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 6,494,571 shares of the company’s stock worth $12,957,000 after buying an additional 632,359 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 27.05% of the company’s stock.

Equillium Stock Performance

Shares of EQ stock opened at $2.36 on Monday. Equillium has a 12-month low of $0.76 and a 12-month high of $3.54. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $2.65 and its 200-day simple moving average is $2.24. The company has a market cap of $149.22 million, a PE ratio of -11.80 and a beta of 1.83.

Equillium (NASDAQ:EQ) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, August 13th. The company reported ($0.04) earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.05) by $0.01. On average, equities analysts forecast that Equillium will post -0.24 earnings per share for the current year.

Equillium Company 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.