Morgan Stanley Reaffirms Underweight Rating for Alector (NASDAQ:ALEC)

Alector (NASDAQ:ALEC)‘s stock had its “underweight” rating reissued by analysts at Morgan Stanley in a note issued to investors on Friday,Benzinga reports. They presently have a $1.50 target price on the stock, down from their prior target price of $3.00. Morgan Stanley’s price objective indicates a potential upside of 1.01% from the company’s current price.

Several other research analysts have also commented on the company. Cantor Fitzgerald reiterated an “overweight” rating on shares of Alector in a report on Tuesday, November 26th. HC Wainwright restated a “buy” rating and set a $7.00 price target on shares of Alector in a report on Thursday, February 27th. BTIG Research lowered their price objective on Alector from $16.00 to $5.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, November 26th. Mizuho lowered Alector from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and cut their target price for the company from $9.00 to $2.50 in a research report on Tuesday, December 17th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus cut shares of 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. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Alector currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $3.50.

Alector Stock Down 6.0 %

Shares of Alector stock traded down $0.10 on Friday, reaching $1.49. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 328,804 shares, compared to its average volume of 703,806. Alector has a 52-week low of $1.30 and a 52-week high of $6.97. The company has a market capitalization of $147.14 million, a P/E ratio of -0.87 and a beta of 0.65. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $1.74 and a 200-day moving average price of $3.41.

Alector (NASDAQ:ALEC) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 26th. The company reported ($0.02) earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.61) by $0.59. The company had revenue of $54.24 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $20.41 million. Alector had a negative net margin of 257.54% and a negative return on equity of 108.77%. Sell-side analysts forecast that Alector will post -1.88 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its position in shares of Alector by 64.7% during the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 2,728,823 shares of the company’s stock worth $12,716,000 after purchasing an additional 1,072,298 shares during 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 acquiring an additional 6,723 shares in the last quarter. Barclays PLC increased its holdings in shares of Alector by 132.4% in the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 176,800 shares of the company’s stock valued at $824,000 after acquiring an additional 100,731 shares during the last quarter. Apollon Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Alector during the 4th quarter worth about $47,000. Finally, SG Americas Securities LLC raised its position in shares of Alector by 27.9% during the 4th quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 39,334 shares of the company’s stock worth $74,000 after acquiring an additional 8,581 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors 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.