Jupiter Topco LLC Purchases New Shares in Equillium, Inc. $EQ

Jupiter Topco LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Equillium, Inc. (NASDAQ:EQ) during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm acquired 6,494,571 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $20,685,000. Jupiter Topco LLC owned approximately 0.10% of Equillium at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Virtu Financial LLC grew its stake in shares of Equillium by 133.4% in the 3rd quarter. Virtu Financial LLC now owns 23,779 shares of the company’s stock worth $34,000 after acquiring an additional 13,591 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP bought a new position in shares of Equillium during the first quarter valued at about $31,000. State Street Corp lifted its position in shares of Equillium by 13.0% during the fourth quarter. State Street Corp now owns 155,420 shares of the company’s stock valued at $241,000 after purchasing an additional 17,900 shares in the last quarter. Persistent Asset Partners Ltd boosted its holdings in Equillium by 35.0% during the fourth quarter. Persistent Asset Partners Ltd now owns 93,123 shares of the company’s stock worth $144,000 after purchasing an additional 24,132 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Millennium Management LLC purchased a new position in Equillium during the third quarter worth about $35,000. 27.05% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have commented on the stock. Roth Capital reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $12.00 price objective on shares of Equillium in a research note on Thursday, May 28th. Stifel Nicolaus set a $5.00 target price on Equillium in a research note on Thursday, May 28th. Zacks Research raised Equillium from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 11th. Raymond James Financial reaffirmed a “strong-buy” rating and set a $7.00 price target on shares of Equillium in a research report on Thursday, May 28th. Finally, Clear Str upgraded Equillium to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 21st. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seven have assigned a Buy rating, one has given a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Equillium presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $7.57.

Equillium Trading Down 2.4%

NASDAQ:EQ opened at $2.39 on Friday. Equillium, Inc. has a 12 month low of $0.76 and a 12 month high of $3.54. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $2.55 and its 200 day moving average is $2.29. The stock has a market capitalization of $151.55 million, a PE ratio of -11.95 and a beta of 1.82.

Equillium (NASDAQ:EQ) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, August 13th. The company reported ($0.04) earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($0.05) by $0.01. Research analysts predict that Equillium, Inc. will post -0.21 earnings per share for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, insider Stephen Connelly sold 200,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, June 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $3.16, for a total transaction of $632,000.00. Following the transaction, the insider owned 793,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,505,880. This represents a 20.14% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, COO Christine Zedelmayer sold 14,584 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, June 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $2.93, for a total value of $42,731.12. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer owned 62,586 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $183,376.98. The trade was a 18.90% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders have sold a total of 245,559 shares of company stock worth $765,798 in the last ninety days. Insiders own 17.84% of the company’s stock.

Equillium Profile

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.