Alector (NASDAQ:ALEC) Stock Rating Lowered by Wall Street Zen

Alector (NASDAQ:ALEC) was downgraded by stock analysts at Wall Street Zen from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note issued to investors on Sunday.

A number of other research analysts have also recently commented on the company. Weiss Ratings reissued a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of Alector in a report on Wednesday, January 21st. BTIG Research raised shares of Alector from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, January 5th. Finally, Morgan Stanley reissued an “underweight” rating on shares of Alector in a research note on Thursday, January 8th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, one has assigned a Buy rating, four have given a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Alector currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $3.25.

Alector Trading Down 5.1%

NASDAQ ALEC opened at $2.43 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $268.17 million, a P/E ratio of -1.75 and a beta of 0.64. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $1.85 and its 200-day moving average price is $2.04. Alector has a 12 month low of $0.87 and a 12 month high of $3.40. The company has a current ratio of 3.76, a quick ratio of 3.76 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.17.

Alector (NASDAQ:ALEC) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, February 25th. The company reported ($0.34) EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.39) by $0.05. Alector had a negative return on equity of 191.85% and a negative net margin of 679.16%.The business had revenue of $6.24 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.78 million. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Alector will post -1.88 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO Arnon Rosenthal sold 104,347 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, December 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $1.12, for a total value of $116,868.64. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 2,420,040 shares in the company, valued at $2,710,444.80. The trade was a 4.13% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, CFO Neil Lindsay Berkley sold 37,261 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, December 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $1.12, for a total transaction of $41,732.32. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer owned 374,309 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $419,226.08. This trade represents a 9.05% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 200,183 shares of company stock worth $230,262. Corporate insiders own 9.70% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Bank of America Corp DE increased its stake in Alector by 1.8% during the second quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 343,909 shares of the company’s stock worth $481,000 after acquiring an additional 5,927 shares during the last quarter. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in Alector by 5.3% during the 2nd quarter. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC now owns 151,896 shares of the company’s stock worth $213,000 after buying an additional 7,600 shares in the last quarter. Sio Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in Alector by 1.0% in the second quarter. Sio Capital Management LLC now owns 845,531 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,184,000 after purchasing an additional 8,372 shares during the period. Mackenzie Financial Corp boosted its stake in shares of Alector by 3.4% in the 3rd quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp now owns 283,712 shares of the company’s stock valued at $840,000 after buying an additional 9,270 shares during the period. Finally, Lexington Partners L.P. acquired a new position in Alector during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $30,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 85.83% of the company’s stock.

About Alector

Alector is a clinical-stage biotechnology company headquartered in South San Francisco, California. Founded in 2013, the company is focused on discovering and developing immuno-neurology therapies that target the innate immune system to treat a range of neurodegenerative disorders. Alector’s approach aims to harness the body’s natural defense mechanisms to clear pathological proteins and restore neuronal function in conditions such as Alzheimer’s disease and frontotemporal dementia.

The company’s pipeline includes multiple product candidates in both preclinical and clinical stages, with lead programs AL001 and AL002 advancing in frontotemporal dementia and Alzheimer’s disease studies.