Alector, Inc. (NASDAQ:ALEC) Stake Raised by JPMorgan Chase & Co.

JPMorgan Chase & Co. grew its holdings in shares of Alector, Inc. (NASDAQ:ALEC) by 64.7% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 2,728,823 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,072,298 shares during the period. JPMorgan Chase & Co. owned approximately 2.79% of Alector worth $12,716,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Point72 DIFC Ltd bought a new stake in Alector during the third quarter worth approximately $29,000. Point72 Asia Singapore Pte. Ltd. acquired a new stake in shares of Alector during the 3rd quarter valued at $40,000. nVerses Capital LLC bought a new stake in shares of Alector during the 3rd quarter worth $51,000. Valence8 US LP acquired a new position in shares of Alector in the 3rd quarter worth $69,000. Finally, China Universal Asset Management Co. Ltd. grew its holdings in shares of Alector by 65.3% in the 3rd quarter. China Universal Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 18,718 shares of the company’s stock worth $87,000 after acquiring an additional 7,395 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 85.83% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Alector news, CEO Arnon Rosenthal sold 52,172 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, December 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $2.52, for a total transaction of $131,473.44. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,507,074 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,317,826.48. This represents a 2.04 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CFO Marc Grasso sold 16,489 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $2.52, for a total value of $41,552.28. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 330,651 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $833,240.52. This trade represents a 4.75 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 95,161 shares of company stock valued at $239,806 in the last three months. Insiders own 9.10% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms recently weighed in on ALEC. Mizuho lowered Alector from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and decreased their price target for the company from $9.00 to $2.50 in a research report on Tuesday, December 17th. Morgan Stanley cut shares of Alector from an “equal weight” rating to an “underweight” rating and decreased their target price for the stock from $10.00 to $3.00 in a report on Tuesday, November 26th. Stifel Nicolaus downgraded shares of Alector from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $4.00 target price on the stock. in a research report on Monday, December 16th. Cantor Fitzgerald restated an “overweight” rating on shares of Alector in a research report on Tuesday, November 26th. Finally, Bank of America cut shares of Alector from a “neutral” rating to an “underperform” rating and lowered their price objective for the stock from $9.00 to $1.00 in a research report on Wednesday, December 4th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $3.75.

Alector Stock Performance

ALEC stock opened at $1.80 on Friday. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $2.91 and a 200 day simple moving average of $4.38. Alector, Inc. has a 52 week low of $1.68 and a 52 week high of $8.04. The stock has a market cap of $176.28 million, a P/E ratio of -1.06 and a beta of 0.57.

Alector (NASDAQ:ALEC) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, November 6th. The company reported ($0.43) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.53) by $0.10. Alector had a negative net margin of 257.54% and a negative return on equity of 108.77%. The company had revenue of $15.34 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $16.33 million. Sell-side analysts predict that Alector, Inc. will post -1.85 EPS for the current year.

About Alector

Alector, Inc, a clinical stage biopharmaceutical company, develops therapies for the treatment of neurodegeneration diseases. Its products include AL001, an immune activity in the brain with genetic links to multiple neurodegenerative disorders, which is in Phase III clinical trial for the treatment of frontotemporal dementia, Alzheimer's, Parkinson's, and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis diseases; and AL101 that is in Phase I clinical trial for the treatment of neurodegenerative diseases, including Alzheimer's and Parkinson's diseases.