Alector (NASDAQ:ALEC) Downgraded by Wall Street Zen to “Sell”

Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Alector (NASDAQ:ALEC) from a hold rating to a sell rating in a research note issued to investors on Friday morning.

Several other equities research analysts have also recently commented on ALEC. Mizuho raised shares of Alector from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and boosted their price target for the stock from $2.50 to $3.50 in a research report on Monday, July 28th. BTIG Research reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $5.00 target price on shares of Alector in a research report on Thursday. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, one has given a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Alector presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $4.17.

Alector Stock Up 5.8%

Shares of NASDAQ ALEC opened at $3.10 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $313.75 million, a P/E ratio of -2.67 and a beta of 0.99. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $2.34 and a 200 day moving average price of $1.66. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13, a quick ratio of 3.78 and a current ratio of 3.78. Alector has a 52-week low of $0.87 and a 52-week high of $6.14.

Alector (NASDAQ:ALEC) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 7th. The company reported ($0.30) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of ($0.45) by $0.15. The company had revenue of $7.87 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.76 million. Alector had a negative return on equity of 112.06% and a negative net margin of 142.10%. Alector has set its FY 2025 guidance at EPS. Analysts expect that Alector will post -1.88 EPS for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, Director Paula Hammond sold 14,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $2.36, for a total transaction of $33,040.00. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 74,909 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $176,785.24. This trade represents a 15.75% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. 9.70% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Acadian Asset Management LLC lifted its stake in Alector by 50.7% in the 2nd quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC now owns 2,170,388 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,033,000 after purchasing an additional 729,727 shares during the last quarter. TD Asset Management Inc increased its holdings in shares of Alector by 483.3% during the second quarter. TD Asset Management Inc now owns 651,738 shares of the company’s stock worth $912,000 after buying an additional 540,000 shares in the last quarter. Vestal Point Capital LP bought a new position in shares of Alector in the 1st quarter valued at $621,000. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Alector by 25.9% in the 1st quarter. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. now owns 1,334,032 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,641,000 after acquiring an additional 274,341 shares during the last quarter. Finally, State of Wyoming acquired a new stake in shares of Alector during the 1st quarter valued at $242,000. 85.83% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

About Alector

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.