Cantor Fitzgerald Begins Coverage on Equillium (NASDAQ:EQ)

Equities researchers at Cantor Fitzgerald initiated coverage on shares of Equillium (NASDAQ:EQ) in a research report issued on Tuesday. The brokerage set an “overweight” rating and a $10.00 price target on the stock. Cantor Fitzgerald’s target price would indicate a potential upside of 397.51% from the company’s previous close.

A number of other brokerages have also recently commented on EQ. Zacks Research upgraded Equillium to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, February 26th. Stifel Nicolaus assumed coverage on Equillium in a report on Wednesday, February 25th. They set a “buy” rating and a $5.00 target price for the company. Roth Mkm assumed coverage on Equillium in a report on Friday, March 13th. They set a “buy” rating and a $12.00 target price for the company. Wall Street Zen upgraded Equillium from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, March 14th. Finally, Weiss Ratings restated a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of Equillium in a report on Friday, March 27th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, one has issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Equillium has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $9.00.

Equillium Price Performance

Shares of Equillium stock opened at $2.01 on Tuesday. The business has a 50-day moving average of $1.81 and a 200 day moving average of $1.44. Equillium has a 12 month low of $0.27 and a 12 month high of $2.70. The stock has a market capitalization of $127.09 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -4.02 and a beta of 1.75.

Equillium (NASDAQ:EQ) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, March 25th. The company reported ($0.04) EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.07) by $0.03. Equities research analysts anticipate that Equillium will post 0.14 earnings per share for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, COO Christine Zedelmayer sold 120,312 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $2.50, for a total transaction of $300,780.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer owned 62,586 shares in the company, valued at $156,465. The trade was a 65.78% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Insiders sold a total of 494,001 shares of company stock worth $998,895 in the last three months. 31.60% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Equillium

Several institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Virtu Financial LLC lifted its stake in Equillium by 133.4% during the third quarter. Virtu Financial LLC now owns 23,779 shares of the company’s stock worth $34,000 after purchasing an additional 13,591 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp lifted its stake in Equillium by 13.0% during the fourth quarter. State Street Corp now owns 155,420 shares of the company’s stock worth $241,000 after purchasing an additional 17,900 shares during the last quarter. Persistent Asset Partners Ltd lifted its stake 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. Millennium Management LLC purchased a new stake in Equillium during the third quarter worth approximately $35,000. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in Equillium by 11.1% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 345,310 shares of the company’s stock worth $535,000 after purchasing an additional 34,491 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 27.05% of the company’s stock.

Equillium Company 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.