Kezar Life Sciences, Inc. (NASDAQ:KZR) Receives Average Rating of “Reduce” from Brokerages

Shares of Kezar Life Sciences, Inc. (NASDAQ:KZR) have received an average recommendation of “Reduce” from the six ratings firms that are covering the company, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and four have issued a hold rating on the company. The average 12 month target price among brokerages that have covered the stock in the last year is $6.00.

KZR has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Weiss Ratings reissued a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of Kezar Life Sciences in a report on Monday, December 22nd. Wall Street Zen raised Kezar Life Sciences to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, November 22nd.

Kezar Life Sciences Price Performance

Shares of KZR opened at $6.76 on Thursday. The company has a market capitalization of $49.48 million, a P/E ratio of -0.80 and a beta of 0.56. The company has a quick ratio of 7.06, a current ratio of 7.07 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.02. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $6.27 and a 200 day moving average of $5.43. Kezar Life Sciences has a twelve month low of $3.53 and a twelve month high of $6.86.

Institutional Trading of Kezar Life Sciences

A number of institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. BML Capital Management LLC lifted its position in Kezar Life Sciences by 13.5% during the third quarter. BML Capital Management LLC now owns 720,787 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,811,000 after purchasing an additional 85,604 shares during the period. Peapod Lane Capital LLC grew its position in Kezar Life Sciences by 9.3% in the 3rd quarter. Peapod Lane Capital LLC now owns 125,773 shares of the company’s stock worth $491,000 after purchasing an additional 10,650 shares during the period. Stonepine Capital Management LLC grew its position in Kezar Life Sciences by 69.9% in the 2nd quarter. Stonepine Capital Management LLC now owns 169,859 shares of the company’s stock worth $778,000 after purchasing an additional 69,859 shares during the period. Bridgeway Capital Management LLC raised its stake in Kezar Life Sciences by 25.9% during the 4th quarter. Bridgeway Capital Management LLC now owns 51,638 shares of the company’s stock valued at $325,000 after buying an additional 10,638 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Vazirani Asset Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Kezar Life Sciences during the 4th quarter valued at $305,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 67.90% of the company’s stock.

About Kezar Life Sciences

Kezar Life Sciences is a clinical-stage biotechnology company focused on the discovery and development of novel small-molecule therapies that modulate the innate immune system. The company’s research centers on selective inhibition of the immunoproteasome, a key protein complex involved in antigen processing and secretion of inflammatory cytokines. By targeting this pathway, Kezar aims to address unmet medical needs in autoimmune and inflammatory diseases with high specificity and a favorable safety profile.

The company’s lead development candidate, KZR-616, is a selective immunoproteasome inhibitor being evaluated in multiple clinical trials for autoimmune conditions such as systemic lupus erythematosus, lupus nephritis, polymyositis and dermatomyositis.