Lyell Immunopharma (NASDAQ:LYEL) Trading Up 9.2% – Time to Buy?

Lyell Immunopharma, Inc. (NASDAQ:LYEL) rose 9.2% during trading on Wednesday . The stock traded as high as $22.00 and last traded at $21.90. Approximately 36,557 shares were traded during trading, a decline of 64% from the average daily volume of 101,828 shares. The stock had previously closed at $20.06.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on LYEL. HC Wainwright upgraded Lyell Immunopharma from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their target price for the stock from $20.00 to $45.00 in a report on Tuesday, December 9th. Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of Lyell Immunopharma from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Saturday. Citizens Jmp assumed coverage on shares of Lyell Immunopharma in a research note on Monday, March 9th. They issued a “market outperform” rating and a $34.00 price objective on the stock. Finally, Weiss Ratings reiterated a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of Lyell Immunopharma in a report on Thursday, January 22nd. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Lyell Immunopharma currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $39.50.

Lyell Immunopharma Price Performance

The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $23.07 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $22.28. The company has a market cap of $503.61 million, a P/E ratio of -1.32 and a beta of -0.14.

Lyell Immunopharma (NASDAQ:LYEL) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, March 12th. The company reported ($7.68) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($2.15) by ($5.53). The company had revenue of $0.01 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $0.02 million. Lyell Immunopharma had a negative return on equity of 90.52% and a negative net margin of 762,355.56%. Equities analysts predict that Lyell Immunopharma, Inc. will post -0.78 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, COO Stephen J. Hill sold 1,236 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $23.39, for a total value of $28,910.04. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer owned 17,795 shares in the company, valued at $416,225.05. This represents a 6.49% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, insider Gary K. Lee sold 1,671 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $23.39, for a total transaction of $39,084.69. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 16,938 shares in the company, valued at $396,179.82. The trade was a 8.98% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders have sold 11,310 shares of company stock valued at $264,285 in the last three months. 22.30% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Lyell Immunopharma

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Foresite Capital Management V LLC lifted its position in shares of Lyell Immunopharma by 17.3% during the 3rd quarter. Foresite Capital Management V LLC now owns 477,078 shares of the company’s stock worth $7,748,000 after buying an additional 70,426 shares in the last quarter. ARCH Venture Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Lyell Immunopharma in the second quarter valued at approximately $16,113,000. RBF Capital LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Lyell Immunopharma during the second quarter valued at approximately $884,000. Takeda Pharmaceutical Co. Ltd. increased its position in shares of Lyell Immunopharma by 33.3% during the third quarter. Takeda Pharmaceutical Co. Ltd. now owns 54,887 shares of the company’s stock valued at $891,000 after acquiring an additional 13,722 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Clarius Group LLC lifted its holdings in Lyell Immunopharma by 4.3% during the third quarter. Clarius Group LLC now owns 19,958 shares of the company’s stock worth $324,000 after acquiring an additional 820 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 66.05% of the company’s stock.

About Lyell Immunopharma

Lyell Immunopharma is a clinical-stage biotechnology company focused on developing next-generation T cell therapies for cancer. Leveraging a proprietary platform that combines cell therapy, gene editing and molecular discovery, Lyell seeks to overcome key barriers in the treatment of solid tumors. The company’s approach centers on engineering T cells to enhance their persistence, functionality and resistance to the immunosuppressive tumor microenvironment.

The company’s pipeline includes multiple autologous T cell programs engineered to target tumor-associated antigens in solid malignancies such as melanoma, ovarian and pancreatic cancers.