Lyell Immunopharma (NASDAQ:LYEL) Cut to Strong Sell at Zacks Research

Zacks Research cut shares of Lyell Immunopharma (NASDAQ:LYEL) from a hold rating to a strong sell rating in a research report sent to investors on Tuesday morning,Zacks.com reports.

A number of other equities research analysts have also issued reports on LYEL. Weiss Ratings reissued a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of Lyell Immunopharma in a research note on Thursday, January 22nd. HC Wainwright raised Lyell Immunopharma from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their price target for the stock from $20.00 to $45.00 in a research note on Tuesday, December 9th. Wall Street Zen lowered Lyell Immunopharma from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Saturday, March 28th. Finally, Citizens Jmp began coverage on Lyell Immunopharma in a research note on Monday, March 9th. They set a “market outperform” rating and a $34.00 price target for the company. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have given a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $39.50.

Lyell Immunopharma Stock Performance

Shares of Lyell Immunopharma stock opened at $23.85 on Tuesday. The stock has a market cap of $556.42 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -1.46 and a beta of -0.06. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $22.66 and a 200-day moving average price of $22.59. Lyell Immunopharma has a one year low of $7.65 and a one year high of $45.00.

Lyell Immunopharma (NASDAQ:LYEL) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, March 12th. The company reported ($7.68) EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of ($2.15) by ($5.53). Lyell Immunopharma had a negative return on equity of 90.52% and a negative net margin of 762,355.56%.The company had revenue of $0.01 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $0.02 million. Sell-side analysts predict that Lyell Immunopharma will post -0.78 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Lyell Immunopharma

In other news, CEO Lynn Seely sold 7,455 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $23.39, for a total value of $174,372.45. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 74,266 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,737,081.74. The trade was a 9.12% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, COO Stephen J. Hill sold 1,236 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $23.39, for a total value of $28,910.04. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer directly owned 17,795 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $416,225.05. The trade was a 6.49% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders sold a total of 11,310 shares of company stock valued at $264,285 in the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 22.30% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. ARCH Venture Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Lyell Immunopharma in the 2nd quarter worth $16,113,000. Foresite Capital Management V LLC raised its position in shares of Lyell Immunopharma by 17.3% in the 3rd quarter. Foresite Capital Management V LLC now owns 477,078 shares of the company’s stock worth $7,748,000 after acquiring an additional 70,426 shares in the last quarter. Takeda Pharmaceutical Co. Ltd. raised its position in shares of Lyell Immunopharma by 33.3% in the 3rd quarter. Takeda Pharmaceutical Co. Ltd. now owns 54,887 shares of the company’s stock worth $891,000 after acquiring an additional 13,722 shares in the last quarter. Clarius Group LLC raised its position in shares of Lyell Immunopharma by 4.3% in the 3rd quarter. Clarius Group LLC now owns 19,958 shares of the company’s stock worth $324,000 after acquiring an additional 820 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Jane Street Group LLC bought a new position in shares of Lyell Immunopharma in the 4th quarter worth $382,000. 66.05% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Lyell Immunopharma Company Profile

Lyell Immunopharma is a clinical-stage biotechnology company focused on developing next-generation T cell therapies for cancer. Leveraging a proprietary platform that combines cell therapy, gene editing and molecular discovery, Lyell seeks to overcome key barriers in the treatment of solid tumors. The company’s approach centers on engineering T cells to enhance their persistence, functionality and resistance to the immunosuppressive tumor microenvironment.

The company’s pipeline includes multiple autologous T cell programs engineered to target tumor-associated antigens in solid malignancies such as melanoma, ovarian and pancreatic cancers.