Equillium (NASDAQ:EQ) Coverage Initiated at B. Riley Financial

B. Riley Financial started coverage on shares of Equillium (NASDAQ:EQ) in a note issued to investors on Thursday, Marketbeat Ratings reports. The firm set a “buy” rating and a $6.00 price target on the stock. B. Riley Financial’s target price suggests a potential upside of 194.84% from the company’s previous close.

EQ has been the topic of a number of other research reports. Stifel Nicolaus began coverage on shares of Equillium in a research report on Wednesday, February 25th. They set a “buy” rating and a $5.00 target price on the stock. Zacks Research raised Equillium to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 26th. Wall Street Zen raised Equillium from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, March 14th. Weiss Ratings reissued a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of Equillium in a report on Friday, March 27th. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald began coverage on Equillium in a research note on Tuesday, April 7th. They issued an “overweight” rating and a $10.00 price target for the company. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, four have issued a Buy rating, one has assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Equillium has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $7.80.

Equillium Trading Down 0.7%

EQ stock traded down $0.02 during trading hours on Thursday, hitting $2.04. 17,398 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 514,071. Equillium has a 12 month low of $0.27 and a 12 month high of $2.70. The firm has a market capitalization of $128.67 million, a P/E ratio of -4.09 and a beta of 1.75. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $1.87 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $1.46.

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

Insider Transactions at Equillium

In other Equillium news, COO Christine Zedelmayer sold 185,937 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $1.76, for a total transaction of $327,249.12. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer directly owned 191,444 shares in the company, valued at $336,941.44. The trade was a 49.27% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Insiders have sold 487,468 shares of company stock valued at $990,467 over the last quarter. Company insiders own 31.60% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Equillium

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of EQ. Virtu Financial LLC lifted its position in shares of Equillium by 133.4% during the 3rd quarter. Virtu Financial LLC now owns 23,779 shares of the company’s stock worth $34,000 after buying an additional 13,591 shares during the last quarter. Millennium Management LLC acquired a new position in Equillium during the third quarter worth about $35,000. Persistent Asset Partners Ltd bought a new position in shares of Equillium in the third quarter worth about $99,000. Royal Bank of Canada acquired a new stake in shares of Equillium in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $124,000. Finally, Boothbay Fund Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Equillium during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $174,000. Institutional investors own 27.05% of the company’s stock.

About Equillium

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.