AC Immune (NASDAQ:ACIU) Receives Average Recommendation of “Hold” from Analysts

Shares of AC Immune (NASDAQ:ACIU) have earned an average rating of “Hold” from the five ratings firms that are presently covering the stock, MarketBeat reports. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, one has given a hold recommendation and three have issued a buy recommendation on the company. The average 12 month price target among analysts that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $7.50.

A number of research firms have recently issued reports on ACIU. Jefferies Financial Group reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $7.00 price objective on shares of AC Immune in a report on Friday, March 13th. Weiss Ratings downgraded AC Immune from a “sell (d-)” rating to a “sell (e+)” rating in a research report on Friday, May 8th. HC Wainwright reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of AC Immune in a research note on Wednesday. Finally, BTIG Research reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $8.00 price objective on shares of AC Immune in a report on Monday, May 4th.

Insiders Place Their Bets

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

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several large investors have recently made changes to their positions in ACIU. Marshall Wace LLP bought a new stake in shares of AC Immune in the 4th quarter worth approximately $586,000. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its holdings in shares of AC Immune by 82.8% during the 1st quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 390,165 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,071,000 after purchasing an additional 176,701 shares during the last quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC raised its position in AC Immune by 87.1% in the 1st quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC now owns 371,177 shares of the company’s stock worth $679,000 after purchasing an additional 172,796 shares during the period. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership lifted its stake in AC Immune by 8.0% in the first quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 405,658 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,116,000 after purchasing an additional 30,035 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Sei Investments Co. bought a new stake in AC Immune in the second quarter worth $51,000. 51.36% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

AC Immune Price Performance

Shares of ACIU stock traded down $0.09 during trading on Wednesday, hitting $2.30. The company had a trading volume of 74,616 shares, compared to its average volume of 305,319. The company has a quick ratio of 1.02, a current ratio of 0.87 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.11. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $2.66 and its two-hundred day moving average is $2.95. The stock has a market capitalization of $233.56 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -2.81 and a beta of 1.59. AC Immune has a 52 week low of $1.94 and a 52 week high of $4.00.

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

About AC Immune

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.