Dice Therapeutics downgraded to Market Perform from Outperform at SVB Securities

SVB Securities analyst Thomas Smith downgraded Dice Therapeutics (DICE) to Market Perform from Outperform with a price target of $48, down from $77, to reflect the recently announced acquisition by Eli Lilly (LLY) for $48/share in cash, representing $2.4B in equity value. The firm views the acquisition of Dice as a logical strategic fit for Eli Lilly, as the company seeks to leverage its expertise and existing infrastructure in autoimmune diseases to advance Dice’s oral IL-17 inhibitors and other early pipeline candidates. SVB sees minimal regulatory risk to the acquisition, which is expected to close in Q3, with only modest overlap between both Dice and Eli Lilly’s existing immunology programs.