UBS Group Initiates Coverage on ALX Oncology (NASDAQ:ALXO)

Analysts at UBS Group initiated coverage on shares of ALX Oncology (NASDAQ:ALXO) in a report issued on Friday. The brokerage set a “buy” rating and a $6.00 price target on the stock. UBS Group’s price target indicates a potential upside of 171.49% from the stock’s previous close.

ALXO has been the topic of several other reports. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of ALX Oncology in a research note on Wednesday, January 21st. Jefferies Financial Group initiated coverage on ALX Oncology in a research note on Thursday, November 13th. They set a “buy” rating and a $4.00 target price for the company. Piper Sandler upped their price target on ALX Oncology from $3.00 to $4.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, February 5th. Finally, Wall Street Zen upgraded ALX Oncology from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, December 22nd. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, ALX Oncology currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $4.00.

ALX Oncology Trading Up 3.8%

Shares of ALXO stock opened at $2.21 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13, a quick ratio of 2.40 and a current ratio of 2.40. The stock has a market capitalization of $119.83 million, a P/E ratio of -1.16 and a beta of 0.47. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $1.78 and a 200 day moving average price of $1.55. ALX Oncology has a fifty-two week low of $0.40 and a fifty-two week high of $2.66.

ALX Oncology (NASDAQ:ALXO) last released its earnings results on Friday, February 27th. The company reported ($0.42) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.38) by ($0.04). Equities research analysts predict that ALX Oncology will post -2.76 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other ALX Oncology news, Director Corey S. Goodman purchased 3,184,713 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, February 2nd. The stock was bought at an average cost of $1.57 per share, with a total value of $4,999,999.41. Following the acquisition, the director directly owned 8,453,038 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $13,271,269.66. This represents a 60.45% increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. 21.00% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Ameriprise Financial Inc. purchased a new stake in ALX Oncology during the third quarter worth approximately $1,195,000. Renaissance Technologies LLC increased its stake in ALX Oncology by 157.2% in the fourth quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 423,099 shares of the company’s stock valued at $478,000 after purchasing an additional 258,600 shares during the last quarter. Jane Street Group LLC acquired a new stake in ALX Oncology during the second quarter worth approximately $84,000. Acadian Asset Management LLC raised its holdings in ALX Oncology by 16.8% during the first quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC now owns 1,296,331 shares of the company’s stock worth $806,000 after purchasing an additional 186,883 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Two Sigma Investments LP lifted its position in shares of ALX Oncology by 26.9% during the 3rd quarter. Two Sigma Investments LP now owns 606,671 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,110,000 after buying an additional 128,737 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 97.97% of the company’s stock.

About ALX Oncology

ALX Oncology, Inc is a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company headquartered in Redwood City, California, focused on developing next-generation immuno-oncology therapies. The company’s mission is to harness and amplify both innate and adaptive immune responses to improve outcomes for patients with a range of solid tumors and hematologic malignancies.

The lead candidate in ALX Oncology’s pipeline is evorpacept (ALX148), a high-affinity CD47-blocking Fc-silenced fusion protein designed to enhance macrophage-mediated phagocytosis of cancer cells when combined with standard therapeutic antibodies or immune checkpoint inhibitors.