Beam Therapeutics (NASDAQ:BEAM) Trading Up 9.3% – What’s Next?

Beam Therapeutics Inc. (NASDAQ:BEAM) was up 9.3% during trading on Thursday . The company traded as high as $25.50 and last traded at $25.2520. Approximately 551,079 shares were traded during trading, a decline of 73% from the average daily volume of 2,059,151 shares. The stock had previously closed at $23.10.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Wedbush reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $65.00 price objective on shares of Beam Therapeutics in a research note on Wednesday, September 9th. HC Wainwright reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $80.00 target price on shares of Beam Therapeutics in a research note on Tuesday, August 25th. Wall Street Zen downgraded Beam Therapeutics from a “sell” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a report on Sunday, September 13th. Weiss Ratings reissued a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of Beam Therapeutics in a research note on Friday, July 17th. Finally, Bank of America restated a “buy” rating and set a $47.00 price objective on shares of Beam Therapeutics in a report on Wednesday, July 8th. Ten analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, two have issued a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $49.00.

Beam Therapeutics Price Performance

The company’s 50-day moving average is $27.33 and its 200-day moving average is $28.69. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.58 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -29.01 and a beta of 2.22. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.09, a current ratio of 14.57 and a quick ratio of 14.57.

Beam Therapeutics (NASDAQ:BEAM) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, August 4th. The company reported ($1.18) EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($1.11) by ($0.07). The company had revenue of $0.49 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $16.37 million. Beam Therapeutics had a negative return on equity of 30.71% and a negative net margin of 54.75%.The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 94.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company posted ($1.00) EPS. On average, research analysts expect that Beam Therapeutics Inc. will post -4.49 earnings per share for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, insider Amy Simon sold 16,667 shares of Beam Therapeutics stock in a transaction on Monday, July 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $25.74, for a total value of $429,008.58. Following the transaction, the insider owned 85,696 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,205,815.04. This trade represents a 16.28% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, insider Fmr Llc sold 251,488 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, June 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $35.26, for a total value of $8,867,466.88. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 854,583 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $30,132,596.58. This trade represents a 22.74% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 301,527 shares of company stock valued at $10,468,500. Insiders own 3.80% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Beam Therapeutics

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. BlackRock Inc. acquired a new stake in Beam Therapeutics during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $308,796,000. ARCH Venture Management LLC acquired a new position in Beam Therapeutics during the second quarter valued at approximately $155,771,929. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its stake in Beam Therapeutics by 10.6% during the first quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 2,154,575 shares of the company’s stock worth $51,327,000 after buying an additional 206,696 shares during the period. MWG Caph Ltd purchased a new stake in Beam Therapeutics during the fourth quarter worth approximately $35,119,000. Finally, ADAR1 Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Beam Therapeutics in the first quarter worth $34,467,000. 99.68% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

About Beam Therapeutics

Beam Therapeutics Inc is a biotechnology company focused on developing genetic medicines using its proprietary base-editing technology. Unlike conventional gene-editing approaches that can make double-strand breaks in DNA, base editing is designed to make targeted changes to individual DNA letters, with the goal of treating diseases at their genetic source.

The company is developing both ex vivo and in vivo therapies. Its pipeline has included programs for sickle cell disease, beta thalassemia, alpha-1 antitrypsin deficiency, glycogen storage disease type Ia and certain cancers.