Equillium (NASDAQ:EQ) Downgraded by Wall Street Zen to “Sell”

Equillium (NASDAQ:EQ) was downgraded by Wall Street Zen from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report issued on Saturday.

Several other research analysts have also recently weighed in on the company. Stifel Nicolaus assumed coverage on Equillium in a research report on Wednesday. They set a “buy” rating and a $5.00 price objective on the stock. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of Equillium in a research report on Monday, December 29th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating, one has issued a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $3.00.

Equillium Stock Up 4.9%

Shares of NASDAQ:EQ opened at $1.82 on Friday. Equillium has a 12-month low of $0.27 and a 12-month high of $2.35. The business has a 50 day moving average of $1.45 and a 200-day moving average of $1.37. The stock has a market cap of $110.82 million, a PE ratio of -2.94 and a beta of 1.87.

Insider Activity at Equillium

In other news, COO Christine Zedelmayer sold 185,937 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $1.76, for a total value of $327,249.12. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer directly owned 191,444 shares in the company, valued at approximately $336,941.44. The trade was a 49.27% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 328,174 shares of company stock valued at $533,163. 31.60% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Equillium

Several hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of EQ. Janus Henderson Group PLC bought a new position in Equillium in the fourth quarter valued at about $9,057,000. ADAR1 Capital Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Equillium during the third quarter worth about $7,951,000. Woodline Partners LP acquired a new position in shares of Equillium in the third quarter valued at approximately $5,018,000. Aberdeen Group plc raised its holdings in Equillium by 523.6% in the 4th quarter. Aberdeen Group plc now owns 2,366,688 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,668,000 after buying an additional 1,987,162 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in Equillium by 59.4% in the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 1,313,946 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,879,000 after buying an additional 489,855 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 27.05% of the company’s stock.

About Equillium

Equillium, Inc (NASDAQ: EQ) is a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company focused on developing novel immunotherapies to treat severe autoimmune diseases and prevent organ transplant rejection. The company’s lead therapeutic candidate, EQ001 (itolizumab), is a humanized monoclonal antibody that modulates T-cell activation by targeting the CD6 receptor. Equillium’s pipeline also includes additional biologic candidates aimed at addressing indications such as acute graft-versus-host disease (GVHD) and lupus nephritis.

Founded in 2015 and headquartered in La Jolla, California, Equillium in-licensed itolizumab from Biocon Limited, leveraging the antibody’s established safety profile in earlier clinical studies.