Franklin Resources Inc. Decreases Holdings in Alector, Inc. (NASDAQ:ALEC)

Franklin Resources Inc. lowered its stake in shares of Alector, Inc. (NASDAQ:ALEC) by 3.4% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 930,534 shares of the company’s stock after selling 32,950 shares during the period. Franklin Resources Inc. owned about 0.95% of Alector worth $1,759,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of ALEC. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its position in shares of Alector by 64.7% during the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 2,728,823 shares of the company’s stock worth $12,716,000 after purchasing an additional 1,072,298 shares in the last quarter. Barclays PLC grew its holdings in shares of Alector by 132.4% during the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 176,800 shares of the company’s stock worth $824,000 after buying an additional 100,731 shares in the last quarter. Apollon Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Alector in the fourth quarter valued at about $47,000. SG Americas Securities LLC lifted its stake in shares of Alector by 27.9% in the fourth quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 39,334 shares of the company’s stock worth $74,000 after buying an additional 8,581 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Jane Street Group LLC lifted its stake in shares of Alector by 24.2% in the third quarter. Jane Street Group LLC now owns 154,942 shares of the company’s stock worth $722,000 after buying an additional 30,180 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 85.83% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have commented on ALEC. Mizuho downgraded shares of Alector from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and cut their price objective for the company from $9.00 to $2.50 in a report on Tuesday, December 17th. Morgan Stanley reiterated an “underweight” rating and set a $1.50 price objective (down previously from $3.00) on shares of Alector in a research report on Friday, March 7th. Stifel Nicolaus cut Alector from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $4.00 target price for the company. in a report on Monday, December 16th. Finally, HC Wainwright reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $7.00 price target on shares of Alector in a report on Thursday, February 27th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $3.50.

Alector Stock Up 5.1 %

Shares of Alector stock opened at $0.95 on Monday. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $1.43 and its 200-day simple moving average is $2.59. The firm has a market cap of $94.13 million, a PE ratio of -0.56 and a beta of 0.73. Alector, Inc. has a 52 week low of $0.87 and a 52 week high of $6.78.

Alector (NASDAQ:ALEC) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, February 26th. The company reported ($0.02) earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of ($0.61) by $0.59. The company had revenue of $54.24 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $20.41 million. Alector had a negative net margin of 257.54% and a negative return on equity of 108.77%. As a group, equities analysts expect that Alector, Inc. will post -1.88 earnings per share for the current year.

Alector Company Profile

Alector, Inc, a clinical stage biopharmaceutical company, develops therapies for the treatment of neurodegeneration diseases. Its products include AL001, an immune activity in the brain with genetic links to multiple neurodegenerative disorders, which is in Phase III clinical trial for the treatment of frontotemporal dementia, Alzheimer's, Parkinson's, and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis diseases; and AL101 that is in Phase I clinical trial for the treatment of neurodegenerative diseases, including Alzheimer's and Parkinson's diseases.