Equillium (NASDAQ:EQ) Shares Up 1.7% – Still a Buy?

Equillium, Inc. (NASDAQ:EQ)’s share price shot up 1.7% on Tuesday . The company traded as high as $0.98 and last traded at $0.95. 69,014 shares traded hands during trading, a decline of 74% from the average session volume of 270,350 shares. The stock had previously closed at $0.93.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Separately, HC Wainwright reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $5.00 price target on shares of Equillium in a report on Monday, August 19th.

Equillium Stock Up 1.7 %

The stock has a market capitalization of $33.50 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -2.64 and a beta of 1.83. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $0.86 and its 200 day simple moving average is $1.17.

Equillium (NASDAQ:EQ) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, August 8th. The company reported $0.01 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of ($0.15) by $0.16. Equillium had a negative return on equity of 36.88% and a negative net margin of 19.51%. The company had revenue of $13.85 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $8.15 million. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Equillium, Inc. will post -0.14 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity

In other Equillium news, insider Penny Tom sold 38,806 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, September 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $0.85, for a total transaction of $32,985.10. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 10,051 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,543.35. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 58,806 shares of company stock valued at $49,785. Company insiders own 30.30% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Equillium

A hedge fund recently raised its stake in Equillium stock. Renaissance Technologies LLC lifted its position in Equillium, Inc. (NASDAQ:EQ) by 43.6% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 300,400 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 91,200 shares during the period. Renaissance Technologies LLC owned about 0.85% of Equillium worth $208,000 as of its most recent SEC filing. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 27.05% of the company’s stock.

About Equillium

Equillium, Inc, a clinical-stage biotechnology company, develops and sells products to treat severe autoimmune and inflammatory, or immuno-inflammatory disorders with unmet medical need. The company's lead product candidate is itolizumab (EQ001), a first-in-class monoclonal antibody that targets the immune checkpoint receptor CD6, which is in Phase III clinical trials for the treatment of acute graft-versus-host disease; completed Phase I clinical trial for the treatment of ulcerative colitis; and Phase I clinical trial for the treatment of lupus nephritis.