AC Immune (NASDAQ:ACIU) Trading Down 2.7% – What’s Next?

Shares of AC Immune (NASDAQ:ACIU) traded down 2.7% on Monday . The stock traded as low as $2.18 and last traded at $2.19. 296,576 shares changed hands during trading, an increase of 10% from the average session volume of 270,272 shares. The stock had previously closed at $2.25.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have commented on the company. Jefferies Financial Group restated a “buy” rating and issued a $7.00 price objective on shares of AC Immune in a research report on Friday, March 13th. Weiss Ratings lowered shares of AC Immune from a “sell (d-)” rating to a “sell (e+)” rating in a report on Friday, May 8th. BTIG Research reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $8.00 target price on shares of AC Immune in a research note on Monday, May 4th. Finally, Wall Street Zen raised shares of AC Immune from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, February 28th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, one has assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $7.50.

AC Immune Trading Down 2.7%

The stock has a market cap of $222.88 million, a PE ratio of -2.67 and a beta of 1.59. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.11, a quick ratio of 1.02 and a current ratio of 0.87. The company has a 50 day moving average of $2.85 and a two-hundred day moving average of $3.00.

AC Immune (NASDAQ:ACIU) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 30th. The company reported ($0.19) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.20) by $0.01. AC Immune had a negative return on equity of 125.26% and a negative net margin of 1,788.02%.The company had revenue of $1.40 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $0.33 million. Sell-side analysts anticipate that AC Immune will post -0.84 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling at AC Immune

In other news, CEO Andrea Pfeifer sold 10,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $2.79, for a total transaction of $27,900.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 3,820,288 shares in the company, valued at $10,658,603.52. This trade represents a 0.26% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. 4.60% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On AC Immune

A number of large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Acadian Asset Management LLC lifted its holdings in AC Immune by 87.1% during the first quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC now owns 371,177 shares of the company’s stock valued at $679,000 after purchasing an additional 172,796 shares in the last quarter. Sei Investments Co. acquired a new position in shares of AC Immune during the 2nd quarter worth about $51,000. Private Advisor Group LLC acquired a new position in shares of AC Immune during the 3rd quarter worth about $48,000. Susquehanna International Group LLP purchased a new position in AC Immune in the 3rd quarter valued at about $63,000. Finally, Goldman Sachs Group Inc. lifted its stake in AC Immune by 46.9% in the 4th quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 18,555 shares of the company’s stock valued at $58,000 after buying an additional 5,920 shares in the last quarter. 51.36% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

AC Immune Company Profile

AC Immune AG is a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company headquartered in Lausanne, Switzerland, with a subsidiary in Boston, Massachusetts. The company specializes in the discovery and development of therapeutics and diagnostics for neurodegenerative diseases, with a primary focus on Alzheimer’s disease, Parkinson’s disease and other protein misfolding disorders. AC Immune leverages proprietary platform technologies to identify and optimize candidates that target pathological protein aggregates.

Since its founding in 2003, AC Immune has advanced multiple programs into clinical development.