Alector (NASDAQ:ALEC) Price Target Lowered to $5.00 at BTIG Research

Alector (NASDAQ:ALEC) had its target price trimmed by BTIG Research from $16.00 to $5.00 in a research report report published on Tuesday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has a buy rating on the stock.

A number of other research firms have also weighed in on ALEC. Morgan Stanley lowered shares of Alector from an “equal weight” rating to an “underweight” rating and cut their target price for the stock from $10.00 to $3.00 in a research note on Tuesday. Cantor Fitzgerald reissued an “overweight” rating on shares of Alector in a research report on Tuesday. Finally, HC Wainwright reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $35.00 price objective on shares of Alector in a research report on Thursday, November 7th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating and five have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Alector has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $8.40.

Alector Stock Up 1.6 %

NASDAQ:ALEC opened at $2.59 on Tuesday. Alector has a 52 week low of $2.37 and a 52 week high of $8.90. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $4.62 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $4.99. The company has a market cap of $253.64 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -1.52 and a beta of 0.66.

Alector (NASDAQ:ALEC) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, November 6th. The company reported ($0.43) EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of ($0.53) by $0.10. The firm had revenue of $15.34 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $16.33 million. Alector had a negative return on equity of 108.77% and a negative net margin of 257.54%. On average, analysts expect that Alector will post -1.86 EPS for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Alector news, CFO Marc Grasso sold 7,297 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, September 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $4.88, for a total transaction of $35,609.36. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 130,740 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $638,011.20. This trade represents a 5.29 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CEO Arnon Rosenthal sold 26,499 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, September 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $4.88, for a total value of $129,315.12. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 1,948,746 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $9,509,880.48. This represents a 1.34 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 47,722 shares of company stock valued at $232,883. 9.10% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Alector

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in Alector by 12.0% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 4,912,578 shares of the company’s stock worth $29,574,000 after acquiring an additional 526,037 shares during the period. Cubist Systematic Strategies LLC boosted its position in shares of Alector by 73.1% during the 2nd quarter. Cubist Systematic Strategies LLC now owns 92,218 shares of the company’s stock worth $419,000 after purchasing an additional 38,947 shares in the last quarter. Creative Planning boosted its position in shares of Alector by 54.2% during the 3rd quarter. Creative Planning now owns 19,117 shares of the company’s stock worth $89,000 after purchasing an additional 6,723 shares in the last quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Alector by 32.8% during the 2nd quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC now owns 590,662 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,681,000 after purchasing an additional 146,015 shares during the period. Finally, Panagora Asset Management Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Alector by 61.7% in the 2nd quarter. Panagora Asset Management Inc. now owns 355,318 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,613,000 after purchasing an additional 135,614 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 85.83% of the company’s stock.

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.