Problem using appcmd to add denyQueryStringSequence with sequence containing &

I'm trying to use appcmd to add a denyQueryStringSequence to requestFiltering.
Specifically, I want to see this exact line in the applicationHost.config after running the command - <add sequence="&lt;" />

This is the command I'm using:
appcmd set config /section:requestfiltering /+"denyquerystringsequences.[sequence='&lt;']"
However, when I check the config file, I see this - <add sequence="&amp;lt;" />

I also tried this command:
appcmd set config /section:requestfiltering /+"denyquerystringsequences.[sequence='%26lt;']"
It results in the same as the above command does - <add sequence="&amp;lt;" />

What do I need to replace the '&' char with in my appcmd command so that it results in seeing this in the config - <add sequence="&lt;" />

Thanks so much,
John