Jefferies Financial Group Downgrades ESSA Pharma (NASDAQ:EPIX) to Hold

ESSA Pharma (NASDAQ:EPIX) (TSE:EPI) was downgraded by investment analysts at Jefferies Financial Group from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note issued to investors on Monday, MarketBeat reports.

A number of other analysts have also issued reports on EPIX. Piper Sandler lowered ESSA Pharma from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and decreased their price objective for the company from $15.00 to $2.00 in a research note on Monday. Oppenheimer cut ESSA Pharma from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research report on Monday.

ESSA Pharma Trading Up 4.3 %

Shares of EPIX stock opened at $1.70 on Monday. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $5.74 and its 200 day moving average is $5.61. The stock has a market capitalization of $75.43 million, a P/E ratio of -2.74 and a beta of 1.84. ESSA Pharma has a 12 month low of $1.40 and a 12 month high of $11.67.

ESSA Pharma (NASDAQ:EPIX) (TSE:EPI) last issued its earnings results on Monday, August 5th. The company reported ($0.16) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.26) by $0.10. On average, equities analysts predict that ESSA Pharma will post -0.71 EPS for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, major shareholder Growth N. V. Biotech sold 7,879,583 shares of ESSA Pharma stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $1.53, for a total transaction of $12,055,761.99. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Insiders have sold 7,883,053 shares of company stock worth $12,076,665 in the last ninety days. 14.70% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On ESSA Pharma

An institutional investor recently raised its position in ESSA Pharma stock. Janus Henderson Group PLC raised its stake in ESSA Pharma Inc. (NASDAQ:EPIX) (TSE:EPI) by 7.9% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 1,175,242 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 85,760 shares during the quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC owned 2.66% of ESSA Pharma worth $9,978,000 at the end of the most recent quarter. 75.12% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

ESSA Pharma Company Profile

ESSA Pharma Inc, a clinical stage pharmaceutical company, focuses the development of small molecule drugs for the treatment of prostate cancer. The company’s lead candidate EPI-7386, an androgen receptor based resistance mechanisms that develop in patients with castration-resistant prostate cancer and metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer.