Leerink Partnrs Downgrades HilleVax (NASDAQ:HLVX) to Hold

HilleVax (NASDAQ:HLVX) was downgraded by investment analysts at Leerink Partnrs from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report issued on Tuesday, Zacks.com reports.

Several other research firms have also weighed in on HLVX. Guggenheim lowered HilleVax from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday. Stifel Nicolaus downgraded HilleVax from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and lowered their target price for the stock from $34.00 to $3.00 in a report on Tuesday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. restated a “neutral” rating and set a $5.00 price target (down from $24.00) on shares of HilleVax in a report on Monday. HC Wainwright reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and set a $2.00 price objective (down previously from $28.00) on shares of HilleVax in a research report on Tuesday. Finally, SVB Leerink downgraded shares of HilleVax from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and dropped their target price for the company from $28.00 to $2.00 in a research report on Tuesday. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, According to MarketBeat.com, HilleVax has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $9.20.

HilleVax Stock Performance

NASDAQ HLVX opened at $1.63 on Tuesday. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $13.04 and its 200 day simple moving average is $14.59. The firm has a market capitalization of $81.04 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -0.49 and a beta of 0.78. The company has a current ratio of 10.92, a quick ratio of 10.92 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.11. HilleVax has a 1 year low of $1.55 and a 1 year high of $20.22.

HilleVax (NASDAQ:HLVX) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 9th. The company reported ($0.97) EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.84) by ($0.13). As a group, research analysts expect that HilleVax will post -3.14 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, Director Aditya Kohli sold 6,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, May 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $14.73, for a total transaction of $88,380.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 764,878 shares in the company, valued at approximately $11,266,652.94. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Insiders sold 12,898 shares of company stock valued at $193,766 over the last ninety days. 71.10% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of HLVX. EntryPoint Capital LLC bought a new stake in shares of HilleVax in the 1st quarter valued at about $80,000. SG Americas Securities LLC purchased a new position in HilleVax in the 4th quarter worth approximately $139,000. Tidal Investments LLC bought a new stake in HilleVax in the first quarter valued at approximately $207,000. abrdn plc bought a new stake in HilleVax in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $433,000. Finally, Swiss National Bank boosted its stake in shares of HilleVax by 22.4% during the fourth quarter. Swiss National Bank now owns 38,200 shares of the company’s stock valued at $613,000 after purchasing an additional 7,000 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 86.42% of the company’s stock.

About HilleVax

HilleVax, Inc, a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company, focuses on developing and commercializing novel vaccines in the United States. It develops HIL-214, a virus-like particle-based vaccine candidate for the prevention of moderate-to-severe acute gastroenteritis caused by norovirus infection. The company was formerly known as MokshaCo, Inc and changed its name to HilleVax, Inc in February 2021.