AnaptysBio (NASDAQ:ANAB) Stock Jumps 5.4% – Should You Buy?

AnaptysBio, Inc. (NASDAQ:ANAB) shares shot up 5.4% during trading on Wednesday. The company traded as high as $47.88 and last traded at $47.8890. Approximately 39,486 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 94% from the average daily volume of 683,004 shares. The stock had previously closed at $45.43.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts recently weighed in on the company. Weiss Ratings reissued a “sell (e+)” rating on shares of AnaptysBio in a report on Friday, August 7th. Wall Street Zen cut AnaptysBio from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Sunday, October 4th. Leerink Partners cut their price target on AnaptysBio from $90.00 to $81.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, September 23rd. Cantor Fitzgerald reissued an “overweight” rating on shares of AnaptysBio in a research note on Tuesday, September 22nd. Finally, HC Wainwright restated a “buy” rating and set a $95.00 price target on shares of AnaptysBio in a report on Tuesday, September 22nd. Thirteen research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, three have given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $77.79.

AnaptysBio Price Performance

The company has a market cap of $1.40 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 8.78 and a beta of 0.76. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $53.21 and its 200 day moving average price is $57.33.

AnaptysBio (NASDAQ:ANAB) last announced its earnings results on Monday, September 21st. The biotechnology company reported $5.11 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of ($0.46) by $5.57. AnaptysBio had a return on equity of 112.00% and a net margin of 82.37%. The firm had revenue of $27.49 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $14.06 million. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned ($1.30) EPS. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that AnaptysBio, Inc. will post -1.30 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Hollings Renton sold 5,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, October 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $49.87, for a total value of $249,350.00. Following the sale, the director directly owned 10,995 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $548,320.65. This represents a 31.26% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Company insiders own 31.50% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On AnaptysBio

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of ANAB. BlackRock Inc. bought a new stake in AnaptysBio during the second quarter valued at $124,473,000. Affinity Asset Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of AnaptysBio by 111.4% in the 1st quarter. Affinity Asset Advisors LLC now owns 940,000 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $52,132,000 after acquiring an additional 495,308 shares in the last quarter. Palo Alto Investors LP bought a new position in shares of AnaptysBio in the 2nd quarter worth about $40,735,508. First Light Asset Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of AnaptysBio by 2.9% in the 2nd quarter. First Light Asset Management LLC now owns 582,004 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $39,285,000 after purchasing an additional 16,573 shares during the period. Finally, Bank of America Corp DE lifted its stake in shares of AnaptysBio by 283.2% in the 1st quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 501,086 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $27,790,000 after purchasing an additional 370,319 shares during the period.

About AnaptysBio

AnaptysBio, Inc is a clinical-stage biotechnology company focused on developing antibody-based medicines for immune-mediated diseases. The company uses its proprietary antibody discovery and engineering platform to identify therapeutics designed to modulate immune-system pathways involved in inflammation and autoimmune disorders.

AnaptysBio’s pipeline has included rosnilimab, an investigational antibody designed to activate the PD-1 immune checkpoint pathway, and imsidolimab, an investigational antibody targeting the interleukin-36 receptor.