Brokerages Set Alector, Inc. (NASDAQ:ALEC) Price Target at $3.75

Shares of Alector, Inc. (NASDAQ:ALEC) have been assigned an average rating of “Hold” from the seven ratings firms that are currently covering the company, MarketBeat.com reports. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company. The average twelve-month target price among analysts that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $3.75.

ALEC has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Mizuho lowered shares of 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 report on Tuesday, December 17th. BTIG Research decreased their target price on Alector from $16.00 to $5.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, November 26th. Stifel Nicolaus lowered Alector from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $4.00 price target on the stock. in a research report on Monday, December 16th. Cantor Fitzgerald reiterated an “overweight” rating on shares of Alector in a research report on Tuesday, November 26th. Finally, Bank of America cut Alector from a “neutral” rating to an “underperform” rating and lowered their target price for the stock from $9.00 to $1.00 in a research note on Wednesday, December 4th.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CFO Marc Grasso sold 16,489 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, December 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $2.52, for a total value of $41,552.28. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 330,651 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $833,240.52. This trade represents a 4.75 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, insider Sara Kenkare-Mitra sold 26,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, December 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $2.52, for a total transaction of $66,780.00. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 565,215 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,424,341.80. The trade was a 4.48 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders sold 95,161 shares of company stock worth $239,806. 9.10% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of ALEC. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its stake in Alector by 64.7% in the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 2,728,823 shares of the company’s stock valued at $12,716,000 after purchasing an additional 1,072,298 shares during the last quarter. Cubist Systematic Strategies LLC lifted its position in shares of Alector by 73.1% in the second quarter. Cubist Systematic Strategies LLC now owns 92,218 shares of the company’s stock valued at $419,000 after buying an additional 38,947 shares during the last quarter. Creative Planning lifted its position in shares of Alector by 54.2% in the third quarter. Creative Planning now owns 19,117 shares of the company’s stock valued at $89,000 after buying an additional 6,723 shares during the last quarter. Barclays PLC boosted its stake in shares of Alector by 132.4% during the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 176,800 shares of the company’s stock worth $824,000 after acquiring an additional 100,731 shares during the period. Finally, Jane Street Group LLC increased its holdings in shares of Alector by 24.2% during the 3rd quarter. Jane Street Group LLC now owns 154,942 shares of the company’s stock worth $722,000 after acquiring an additional 30,180 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 85.83% of the company’s stock.

Alector Trading Up 1.8 %

Shares of ALEC opened at $1.71 on Wednesday. The stock has a market cap of $167.47 million, a P/E ratio of -1.01 and a beta of 0.57. Alector has a 1 year low of $1.60 and a 1 year high of $7.58. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $2.54 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $4.29.

Alector (NASDAQ:ALEC) last issued its quarterly earnings data 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 firm had revenue of $15.34 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $16.33 million. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Alector will post -1.88 EPS for the current year.

Alector Company Profile

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.