William Blair Reaffirms “Market Perform” Rating for Kezar Life Sciences (NASDAQ:KZR)

Kezar Life Sciences (NASDAQ:KZR)‘s stock had its “market perform” rating reissued by investment analysts at William Blair in a research report issued to clients and investors on Friday, Marketbeat.com reports.

KZR has been the subject of several other reports. Wells Fargo & Company set a $5.00 target price on shares of Kezar Life Sciences and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday. HC Wainwright restated a “neutral” rating on shares of Kezar Life Sciences in a report on Wednesday, July 16th. Weiss Ratings restated a “sell (e+)” rating on shares of Kezar Life Sciences in a report on Wednesday, October 8th. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Kezar Life Sciences to a “sell” rating in a report on Saturday, September 13th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group cut shares of Kezar Life Sciences from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and cut their price target for the stock from $18.00 to $7.00 in a report on Friday. Four analysts have rated the stock with a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Reduce” and a consensus price target of $6.00.

Kezar Life Sciences Trading Up 52.5%

NASDAQ:KZR opened at $6.36 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03, a current ratio of 7.29 and a quick ratio of 7.29. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $4.00 and a 200-day moving average of $4.20. The company has a market cap of $46.56 million, a PE ratio of -0.66 and a beta of 0.62. Kezar Life Sciences has a one year low of $3.53 and a one year high of $8.45.

Kezar Life Sciences (NASDAQ:KZR) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, August 13th. The company reported ($1.87) EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of ($2.15) by $0.28. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Kezar Life Sciences will post -4.39 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of KZR. Woodline Partners LP bought a new position in shares of Kezar Life Sciences during the 1st quarter valued at approximately $125,000. Stonepine Capital Management LLC grew its position in shares of Kezar Life Sciences by 69.9% during the 2nd quarter. Stonepine Capital Management LLC now owns 169,859 shares of the company’s stock valued at $778,000 after acquiring an additional 69,859 shares during the period. Finally, BML Capital Management LLC grew its position in shares of Kezar Life Sciences by 738.6% during the 1st quarter. BML Capital Management LLC now owns 408,138 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,992,000 after acquiring an additional 359,470 shares during the period. 67.90% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

About Kezar Life Sciences

Kezar Life Sciences, Inc, a clinical-stage biotechnology company, engages in the discovery and development of novel small molecule therapeutics to treat unmet needs in immune-mediated diseases and cancer in the United States. The company's lead product candidate is zetomipzomib (KZR-616), a selective immunoproteasome inhibitor that is in Phase 2b clinical trials for various indications, including lupus nephritis, dermatomyositis, and polymyositis; Phase 1b clinical trials in systemic lupus erythematosus; and completed Phase 2a clinical trials in lupus nephritis.