Alector (NASDAQ:ALEC) Downgraded by Mizuho to Neutral

Mizuho downgraded shares of Alector (NASDAQ:ALEC) from an outperform rating to a neutral rating in a report released on Tuesday, MarketBeat Ratings reports. The brokerage currently has $2.50 target price on the stock, down from their prior target price of $9.00.

Other equities research analysts have also issued reports about the company. Morgan Stanley lowered Alector from an “equal weight” rating to an “underweight” rating and dropped their price target for the company from $10.00 to $3.00 in a research report on Tuesday, November 26th. BTIG Research dropped their target price on Alector from $16.00 to $5.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, November 26th. Cantor Fitzgerald reiterated an “overweight” rating on shares of Alector in a report on Tuesday, November 26th. Stifel Nicolaus lowered shares of Alector from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $4.00 price objective for the company. in a report on Monday. Finally, Bank of America downgraded shares of Alector from a “neutral” rating to an “underperform” rating and reduced their target price for the stock from $9.00 to $1.00 in a research note 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 company. According to MarketBeat, Alector currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $3.75.

Alector Price Performance

Alector stock opened at $1.78 on Tuesday. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $3.88 and a 200-day simple moving average of $4.68. The firm has a market capitalization of $174.32 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -1.05 and a beta of 0.51. Alector has a 52-week low of $1.74 and a 52-week high of $8.90.

Alector (NASDAQ:ALEC) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, November 6th. The company reported ($0.43) earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.53) by $0.10. The firm had revenue of $15.34 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $16.33 million. Alector had a negative net margin of 257.54% and a negative return on equity of 108.77%. On average, research analysts anticipate that Alector will post -1.85 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

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

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Alector

Several hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of ALEC. SG Americas Securities LLC acquired a new position in Alector in the 2nd quarter valued at about $291,000. Bank of New York Mellon Corp grew its holdings in shares of Alector by 21.5% in the second quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 279,938 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,271,000 after purchasing an additional 49,625 shares in the last quarter. Panagora Asset Management Inc. increased its stake in Alector by 61.7% during the 2nd quarter. Panagora Asset Management Inc. now owns 355,318 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,613,000 after buying an additional 135,614 shares during the period. Rhumbline Advisers lifted its holdings in Alector by 20.1% during the 2nd quarter. Rhumbline Advisers now owns 109,924 shares of the company’s stock worth $499,000 after buying an additional 18,398 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Victory Capital Management Inc. lifted its holdings in Alector by 21.0% during the 2nd quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 156,234 shares of the company’s stock worth $709,000 after buying an additional 27,094 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 85.83% of the company’s stock.

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.