Lyell Immunopharma (NASDAQ:LYEL) Cut to Strong Sell at Zacks Research

Lyell Immunopharma (NASDAQ:LYEL) was downgraded by equities research analysts at Zacks Research from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a research report issued on Tuesday,Zacks.com reports.

A number of other analysts have also weighed in on LYEL. Citizens Jmp started coverage on Lyell Immunopharma in a research note on Monday, March 9th. They set a “market outperform” rating and a $34.00 price objective for the company. HC Wainwright raised Lyell Immunopharma from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their price objective for the company from $20.00 to $45.00 in a research note on Tuesday, December 9th. Weiss Ratings reissued a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of Lyell Immunopharma in a research note on Thursday, January 22nd. Finally, Wall Street Zen lowered Lyell Immunopharma from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Saturday, March 28th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Lyell Immunopharma presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $39.50.

Lyell Immunopharma Price Performance

Shares of LYEL opened at $22.91 on Tuesday. The firm has a market cap of $534.03 million, a P/E ratio of -1.41 and a beta of -0.06. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $22.68 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $22.58. Lyell Immunopharma has a 1 year low of $7.65 and a 1 year high of $45.00.

Lyell Immunopharma (NASDAQ:LYEL) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, March 12th. The company reported ($7.68) earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of ($2.15) by ($5.53). The company had revenue of $0.01 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $0.02 million. Lyell Immunopharma had a negative net margin of 762,355.56% and a negative return on equity of 90.52%. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Lyell Immunopharma will post -0.78 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity at Lyell Immunopharma

In related news, insider Gary K. Lee sold 1,671 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $23.39, for a total transaction of $39,084.69. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 16,938 shares in the company, valued at $396,179.82. This represents a 8.98% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, COO Stephen J. Hill sold 1,236 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $23.39, for a total value of $28,910.04. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer owned 17,795 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $416,225.05. This represents a 6.49% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders sold a total of 11,310 shares of company stock worth $264,285 over the last quarter. 22.30% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Lyell Immunopharma

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. ARCH Venture Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Lyell Immunopharma during the second quarter valued at approximately $16,113,000. Foresite Capital Management V LLC raised its holdings in Lyell Immunopharma by 17.3% in the third quarter. Foresite Capital Management V LLC now owns 477,078 shares of the company’s stock worth $7,748,000 after purchasing an additional 70,426 shares in the last quarter. Takeda Pharmaceutical Co. Ltd. raised its holdings in Lyell Immunopharma by 33.3% in the third quarter. Takeda Pharmaceutical Co. Ltd. now owns 54,887 shares of the company’s stock worth $891,000 after purchasing an additional 13,722 shares in the last quarter. Clarius Group LLC raised its holdings in Lyell Immunopharma by 4.3% in the third quarter. Clarius Group LLC now owns 19,958 shares of the company’s stock worth $324,000 after purchasing an additional 820 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Jane Street Group LLC bought a new position in Lyell Immunopharma in the fourth quarter worth $382,000. Institutional investors own 66.05% of the company’s stock.

About Lyell Immunopharma

Lyell Immunopharma is a clinical-stage biotechnology company focused on developing next-generation T cell therapies for cancer. Leveraging a proprietary platform that combines cell therapy, gene editing and molecular discovery, Lyell seeks to overcome key barriers in the treatment of solid tumors. The company’s approach centers on engineering T cells to enhance their persistence, functionality and resistance to the immunosuppressive tumor microenvironment.

The company’s pipeline includes multiple autologous T cell programs engineered to target tumor-associated antigens in solid malignancies such as melanoma, ovarian and pancreatic cancers.