Evercore Downgrades Arcellx (NASDAQ:ACLX) to Hold

Arcellx (NASDAQ:ACLX) was downgraded by equities research analysts at Evercore from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report issued on Monday,Zacks.com reports.

A number of other equities research analysts have also recently commented on ACLX. Guggenheim reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of Arcellx in a report on Monday, November 24th. Truist Financial set a $120.00 price target on Arcellx in a research report on Monday. Wolfe Research started coverage on Arcellx in a research note on Tuesday, November 18th. They set a “peer perform” rating for the company. Stifel Nicolaus reiterated a “hold” rating and issued a $115.00 target price (down from $127.00) on shares of Arcellx in a research note on Monday. Finally, Robert W. Baird reissued a “neutral” rating and issued a $115.00 target price (up from $106.00) on shares of Arcellx in a report on Monday. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, fifteen have issued a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $111.64.

Arcellx Price Performance

ACLX stock opened at $113.71 on Monday. The company has a market cap of $6.57 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -28.93 and a beta of 0.36. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $68.84 and a 200 day moving average price of $75.38. Arcellx has a 12 month low of $47.86 and a 12 month high of $114.26.

Insider Transactions at Arcellx

In other news, insider Christopher Heery sold 7,437 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, January 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $65.51, for a total transaction of $487,197.87. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 29,631 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,941,126.81. This represents a 20.06% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 19,450 shares of company stock worth $1,283,477. Insiders own 8.35% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of ACLX. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. lifted its holdings in Arcellx by 66.2% in the fourth quarter. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. now owns 10,560,425 shares of the company’s stock valued at $688,540,000 after acquiring an additional 4,208,069 shares during the period. Invesco Ltd. increased its holdings in shares of Arcellx by 19.9% in the 4th quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 40,372 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,632,000 after purchasing an additional 6,704 shares in the last quarter. Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV lifted its stake in shares of Arcellx by 19.0% in the fourth quarter. Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV now owns 4,107 shares of the company’s stock valued at $268,000 after purchasing an additional 655 shares during the period. XTX Topco Ltd acquired a new stake in shares of Arcellx in the fourth quarter valued at about $4,732,000. Finally, Vestal Point Capital LP lifted its stake in shares of Arcellx by 134.0% in the fourth quarter. Vestal Point Capital LP now owns 2,925,000 shares of the company’s stock valued at $190,710,000 after purchasing an additional 1,675,000 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 96.03% of the company’s stock.

Key Headlines Impacting Arcellx

Here are the key news stories impacting Arcellx this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Gilead Sciences agreed to acquire Arcellx for up to $7.8 billion — deal consideration is $115.00 per share in cash plus a contingent value right (CVR) worth $5.00 if milestones are met; the announcement is the proximate cause of the stock’s big jump. Reuters: Gilead to acquire Arcellx
• Positive Sentiment: Market reaction: shares surged strongly in premarket trading on the acquisition — investors priced the takeover premium into ACLX ahead of regulatory and shareholder reviews. Investopedia: Why ACLX jumped
• Neutral Sentiment: HC Wainwright published bullish long-term EPS projections (FY2030 EPS of $4.95) and has a Neutral rating with a $115 price objective — signals some analysts see material upside longer term, but currently assigns a conservative near-term stance. MarketBeat: HC Wainwright note
• Neutral Sentiment: Robert W. Baird changed its rating to Hold while nudging its target to $115 (from $106) — this reflects mixed analyst views: higher valuation assumptions but a more cautious recommendation. Benzinga: Baird note
• Negative Sentiment: Widespread analyst downgrades: several firms (Needham, Wells Fargo, Truist, Canaccord, Citigroup, Evercore, Leerink/SvB) moved ACLX to Hold/Equal Weight from Buy/Strong Buy — these downgrades reduce the buy-side conviction and can apply near-term selling pressure. Zacks/Benzinga aggregation of downgrades
• Negative Sentiment: Multiple shareholder law firms and investor alerts (Kahn Swick & Foti, Ademi, Halper Sadeh, M&A Class Action Firm, others) are investigating whether Arcellx shareholders are receiving a fair price and whether the sale process was adequate — ongoing litigation risk and potential deal scrutiny may weigh on sentiment and could complicate closing. BusinessWire: Investor alert on Arcellx sale

Arcellx Company Profile

Arcellx, Inc (NASDAQ: ACLX) is a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company focused on the discovery, development and commercialization of next-generation cell therapies for oncology and autoimmune diseases. The company’s proprietary ARC-SparX™ platform is designed to enable precise control over cell-surface receptor activation and to improve the safety, efficacy and durability of adoptive cell therapies. Leveraging this technology, Arcellx engineers immune cells with modular antigen-binding domains that can be exchanged to target a variety of disease-associated markers.

The company’s pipeline comprises multiple wholly owned programs in hematologic malignancies and solid tumors at various stages of preclinical and clinical development.