Candel Therapeutics (NASDAQ:CADL) Shares Gap Up Following Analyst Upgrade

Candel Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:CADL)’s stock price gapped up before the market opened on Monday after Bank of America upgraded the stock from a neutral rating to a buy rating. The stock had previously closed at $10.85, but opened at $11.85. Bank of America now has a $18.00 price target on the stock, up from their previous price target of $12.00. Candel Therapeutics shares last traded at $11.6320, with a volume of 205,084 shares.

CADL has been the subject of several other reports. UBS Group restated a “buy” rating on shares of Candel Therapeutics in a research report on Monday, August 17th. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of Candel Therapeutics in a report on Friday, July 17th. Wall Street Zen lowered Candel Therapeutics from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Sunday, August 16th. HC Wainwright restated a “buy” rating and set a $23.00 target price on shares of Candel Therapeutics in a report on Thursday, August 13th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus assumed coverage on Candel Therapeutics in a report on Monday, July 13th. They set a “buy” rating and a $22.00 target price for the company. Nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, one has issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Candel Therapeutics currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $20.14.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Candel Therapeutics news, insider Francesca Barone sold 23,447 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, June 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $10.06, for a total value of $235,876.82. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 77,362 shares in the company, valued at $778,261.72. The trade was a 23.26% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CTO Seshu Tyagarajan sold 7,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, August 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $12.00, for a total transaction of $84,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief technology officer owned 76,865 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $922,380. This trade represents a 8.35% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 37,447 shares of company stock worth $390,017. 14.30% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. BlackRock Inc. purchased a new stake in Candel Therapeutics during the 2nd quarter worth about $51,181,000. Halter Ferguson Financial Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Candel Therapeutics by 20.9% in the 1st quarter. Halter Ferguson Financial Inc. now owns 904,051 shares of the company’s stock valued at $4,430,000 after buying an additional 155,996 shares during the period. Bank of America Corp DE purchased a new position in shares of Candel Therapeutics in the 2nd quarter valued at about $2,873,000. Wellington Management Group LLP acquired a new position in shares of Candel Therapeutics during the second quarter worth about $2,119,000. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp acquired a new position in shares of Candel Therapeutics during the second quarter worth about $1,975,000. 13.93% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Candel Therapeutics Price Performance

The stock’s 50 day moving average is $11.27 and its two-hundred day moving average is $8.60. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.38, a current ratio of 16.09 and a quick ratio of 16.09. The stock has a market capitalization of $882.26 million, a PE ratio of -8.26 and a beta of -0.48.

Candel Therapeutics (NASDAQ:CADL) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 13th. The company reported ($0.52) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.24) by ($0.28). As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Candel Therapeutics, Inc. will post -1.29 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

About Candel Therapeutics

Candel Therapeutics, Inc is a clinical-stage biotechnology company developing multimodal biological immunotherapies designed to stimulate the immune system to recognize and attack cancer. The company focuses on engineered viruses administered directly into tumors, with the goal of creating a localized immune response that may also affect cancer cells elsewhere in the body.

Candel’s pipeline includes CAN-2409, an investigational, replication-defective adenovirus-based immunotherapy being studied in cancers including localized prostate cancer and non-small cell lung cancer.