Kezar Life Sciences, Inc. (NASDAQ:KZR) Receives Average Rating of “Reduce” from Analysts

Kezar Life Sciences, Inc. (NASDAQ:KZR) has earned an average rating of “Reduce” from the six brokerages that are presently covering the stock, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell recommendation and four have assigned a hold recommendation to the company. The average 12-month price objective among analysts that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $6.00.

A number of research analysts have issued reports on KZR shares. Weiss Ratings restated a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of Kezar Life Sciences in a research report on Monday, December 22nd. Jefferies Financial Group cut Kezar Life Sciences from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and cut their price target for the company from $18.00 to $7.00 in a research note on Friday, October 17th. TD Cowen downgraded Kezar Life Sciences from a “strong-buy” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a research report on Friday, October 17th. Wall Street Zen upgraded Kezar Life Sciences to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, November 22nd. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company set a $5.00 target price on Kezar Life Sciences and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, October 17th.

Kezar Life Sciences Stock Up 0.5%

KZR stock opened at $6.18 on Friday. Kezar Life Sciences has a fifty-two week low of $3.53 and a fifty-two week high of $6.65. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.02, a current ratio of 7.07 and a quick ratio of 7.06. The stock has a market capitalization of $45.24 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -0.73 and a beta of 0.55. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $6.25 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $5.14.

Kezar Life Sciences (NASDAQ:KZR) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, November 12th. The company reported ($1.53) EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($1.81) by $0.28. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Kezar Life Sciences will post -4.39 earnings per share for the current year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Kezar Life Sciences

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Woodline Partners LP bought a new position in Kezar Life Sciences in the 1st quarter valued at about $125,000. BML Capital Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Kezar Life Sciences by 55.6% during the 2nd quarter. BML Capital Management LLC now owns 635,183 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,909,000 after acquiring an additional 227,045 shares in the last quarter. Stonepine Capital Management LLC increased its stake in Kezar Life Sciences by 69.9% in the second 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 last quarter. Peapod Lane Capital LLC raised its position in Kezar Life Sciences by 9.3% during the third quarter. Peapod Lane Capital LLC now owns 125,773 shares of the company’s stock valued at $491,000 after purchasing an additional 10,650 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Landscape Capital Management L.L.C. bought a new stake in Kezar Life Sciences during the third quarter worth $51,000. Institutional investors own 67.90% of the company’s stock.

Kezar Life Sciences Company Profile

Kezar Life Sciences is a clinical-stage biotechnology company focused on the discovery and development of novel small-molecule therapies that modulate the innate immune system. The company’s research centers on selective inhibition of the immunoproteasome, a key protein complex involved in antigen processing and secretion of inflammatory cytokines. By targeting this pathway, Kezar aims to address unmet medical needs in autoimmune and inflammatory diseases with high specificity and a favorable safety profile.

The company’s lead development candidate, KZR-616, is a selective immunoproteasome inhibitor being evaluated in multiple clinical trials for autoimmune conditions such as systemic lupus erythematosus, lupus nephritis, polymyositis and dermatomyositis.