Brokerages Set Equillium, Inc. (NASDAQ:EQ) PT at $7.57

Equillium, Inc. (NASDAQ:EQ) has been given a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” by the eleven ratings firms that are presently covering the firm, Marketbeat Ratings reports. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, one has given a hold recommendation, seven have given a buy recommendation and two have issued a strong buy recommendation on the company. The average 12-month price target among brokers that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $7.5714.

EQ has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Stifel Nicolaus set a $5.00 price objective on shares of Equillium in a report on Thursday, May 28th. Weiss Ratings restated a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of Equillium in a research report on Wednesday, June 24th. Raymond James Financial restated a “strong-buy” rating and issued a $7.00 price target on shares of Equillium in a research report on Thursday, May 28th. Clear Str upgraded Equillium to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 21st. Finally, Zacks Research raised Equillium from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday.

Equillium Trading Up 17.4%

Shares of EQ opened at $2.36 on Monday. Equillium has a twelve month low of $0.76 and a twelve month high of $3.54. The firm has a market capitalization of $149.22 million, a P/E ratio of -11.80 and a beta of 1.82. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $2.65 and its 200 day simple moving average is $2.23.

Equillium (NASDAQ:EQ) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, August 13th. The company reported ($0.04) EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($0.05) by $0.01. Sell-side analysts predict that Equillium will post -0.24 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Transactions at Equillium

In related news, insider Penny Tom sold 65,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $2.95, for a total transaction of $191,750.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 65,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $191,750. This represents a 50.00% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, insider Stephen Connelly sold 30,975 shares of Equillium stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, June 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $2.94, for a total value of $91,066.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 762,025 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,240,353.50. This represents a 3.91% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Over the last three months, insiders sold 406,392 shares of company stock worth $1,224,898. 17.84% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Jupiter Topco LLC bought a new position in shares of Equillium in the 2nd quarter valued at about $20,685,000. Janus Henderson Group PLC acquired 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 in the 3rd quarter valued at about $7,951,000. Woodline Partners LP acquired a new stake in shares of Equillium in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $5,018,000. Finally, Eversept Partners LP acquired a new stake in shares of Equillium in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $2,998,000. 27.05% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.