Equillium (NASDAQ:EQ) Shares Down 11.3%

Equillium, Inc. (NASDAQ:EQ) fell 11.3% on Tuesday . The company traded as low as $7.80 and last traded at $8.23. 636,747 shares traded hands during trading, a decline of 3% from the average session volume of 654,479 shares. The stock had previously closed at $9.28.

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on EQ. Zacks Investment Research cut Equillium from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 11th. HC Wainwright reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $12.00 price target on shares of Equillium in a research note on Tuesday, February 9th.

The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $7.07 and a 200 day simple moving average of $5.51. The company has a quick ratio of 17.91, a current ratio of 17.91 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12. The company has a market capitalization of $203.73 million, a PE ratio of -5.24 and a beta of 1.71.

In other news, CFO Jason A. Keyes sold 8,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, December 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $4.74, for a total value of $37,920.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 12,176 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $57,714.24. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, insider Stephen Connelly sold 25,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $4.52, for a total value of $113,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 993,000 shares in the company, valued at $4,488,360. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 52.30% of the company’s stock.

Several hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. First Trust Advisors LP acquired a new stake in Equillium during the third quarter worth about $188,000. California Public Employees Retirement System acquired a new stake in Equillium during the third quarter worth about $70,000. BlackRock Inc. grew its holdings in Equillium by 14.2% during the third quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 21,535 shares of the company’s stock worth $125,000 after acquiring an additional 2,675 shares during the period. Kestra Private Wealth Services LLC acquired a new stake in Equillium during the third quarter worth about $351,000. Finally, Victory Capital Management Inc. grew its holdings in Equillium by 36.2% during the third quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 2,354,309 shares of the company’s stock worth $13,585,000 after acquiring an additional 625,788 shares during the period. 31.14% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

About Equillium (NASDAQ:EQ)

Equillium, Inc, a clinical-stage biotechnology company, develops products for autoimmune and inflammatory, or immuno-inflammatory disorders with unmet medical need. Its primary product candidate is itolizumab, a clinical-stage monoclonal antibody that targets the novel immune checkpoint receptor CD6, which is in Phase 1b/2 clinical trials for the treatment of acute graft-versus-host disease; and Phase 1 clinical trial for the treatment of asthma and lupus nephritis.

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