Alector (NASDAQ:ALEC) Cut to Hold at Stifel Nicolaus

Stifel Nicolaus lowered shares of Alector (NASDAQ:ALEC) from a buy rating to a hold rating in a research report report published on Monday, MarketBeat reports. Stifel Nicolaus currently has $4.00 price objective on the stock.

A number of other brokerages also recently issued reports on ALEC. BTIG Research dropped their price objective on Alector from $16.00 to $5.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, November 26th. HC Wainwright cut their target price on shares of Alector from $35.00 to $7.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, November 29th. Morgan Stanley cut shares of Alector from an “equal weight” rating to an “underweight” rating and cut their price objective for the stock from $10.00 to $3.00 in a research report on Tuesday, November 26th. Bank of America downgraded Alector from a “neutral” rating to an “underperform” rating and dropped their price target for the stock from $9.00 to $1.00 in a research note on Wednesday, December 4th. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald restated an “overweight” rating on shares of Alector in a report on Tuesday, November 26th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $3.75.

Alector Price Performance

Shares of ALEC opened at $1.78 on Monday. The business has a 50-day moving average of $4.00 and a 200-day moving average of $4.72. Alector has a 1 year low of $1.75 and a 1 year high of $8.90. The company has a market capitalization of $174.32 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -1.05 and a beta of 0.51.

Alector (NASDAQ:ALEC) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, November 6th. The company reported ($0.43) 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 for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $16.33 million. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Alector will post -1.85 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity at Alector

In other Alector news, CEO Arnon Rosenthal sold 52,172 shares of Alector stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $2.52, for a total value of $131,473.44. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 2,507,074 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,317,826.48. The trade was a 2.04 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, insider Sara Kenkare-Mitra sold 26,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $2.52, for a total transaction of $66,780.00. Following the completion of 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. In the last three months, insiders sold 95,161 shares of company stock valued at $239,806. 9.10% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Alector

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

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.