Alector (NASDAQ:ALEC) Lowered to “Underweight” Rating by Morgan Stanley

Morgan Stanley lowered shares of Alector (NASDAQ:ALEC) from an equal weight rating to an underweight rating in a research report report published on Tuesday, Marketbeat.com reports. The brokerage currently has $3.00 target price on the stock, down from their prior target price of $10.00.

Several other brokerages have also recently weighed in on ALEC. Cantor Fitzgerald reaffirmed an “overweight” rating on shares of Alector in a report on Tuesday, September 17th. 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. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $14.00.

Alector Stock Down 35.1 %

NASDAQ:ALEC opened at $2.57 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 $4.88 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $5.06. The company has a market cap of $251.68 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 -1.87 EPS for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, insider Sara Kenkare-Mitra sold 13,926 shares of Alector stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, September 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $4.88, for a total transaction of $67,958.88. Following the sale, the insider now owns 291,715 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,423,569.20. The trade was a 4.56 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, CEO Arnon Rosenthal sold 26,499 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, September 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $4.88, for a total value of $129,315.12. Following the completion of 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 trade represents a 1.34 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 47,722 shares of company stock valued at $232,883. 9.10% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in shares of 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 last quarter. Cubist Systematic Strategies LLC boosted its stake in 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 during the period. Creative Planning grew its position in 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 during the last quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC increased its stake in Alector by 32.8% in the second quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC now owns 590,662 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,681,000 after purchasing an additional 146,015 shares during the period. Finally, Panagora Asset Management Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Alector by 61.7% during the second 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. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.