Assembly Biosciences (NASDAQ:ASMB) Stock Gets Price Target Cut from UBS Group

Assembly Biosciences (NASDAQ:ASMB) had its price objective cut by UBS Group from $52.00 to $48.00 in a research note issued to investors on Tuesday,Benzinga reports. They currently have a buy rating on the biopharmaceutical company’s stock.

A number of other analysts also recently commented on ASMB. HC Wainwright reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $50.00 price objective on shares of Assembly Biosciences in a research report on Tuesday, August 18th. Mizuho set a $53.00 price objective on Assembly Biosciences in a research report on Tuesday, September 1st. Zacks Research upgraded Assembly Biosciences from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 20th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of Assembly Biosciences in a research report on Thursday, October 15th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, four have given a Buy rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $46.50.

Assembly Biosciences Price Performance

NASDAQ:ASMB opened at $20.00 on Tuesday. Assembly Biosciences has a one year low of $19.20 and a one year high of $39.71. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $24.92 and a 200 day moving average price of $27.02. The stock has a market cap of $407.20 million, a P/E ratio of 19.48 and a beta of 1.26.

Assembly Biosciences (NASDAQ:ASMB) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 13th. The biopharmaceutical company reported ($0.20) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of ($0.72) by $0.52. Assembly Biosciences had a negative net margin of 0.06% and a negative return on equity of 0.02%. The company had revenue of $13.37 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $8.60 million. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Assembly Biosciences will post 2.28 EPS for the current year.

Insider Transactions at Assembly Biosciences

In related news, insider Anuj Gaggar sold 2,593 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $19.62, for a total transaction of $50,874.66. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 53,800 shares in the company, valued at $1,055,556. This represents a 4.60% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards. Also, insider Nicole S. White sold 2,593 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, November 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $19.62, for a total value of $50,874.66. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 59,257 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,162,622.34. This represents a 4.19% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 12,115 shares of company stock valued at $237,696. 3.50% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Assembly Biosciences

Several large investors have recently made changes to their positions in ASMB. Seven Fleet Capital Management LP grew its stake in shares of Assembly Biosciences by 671.5% during the second quarter. Seven Fleet Capital Management LP now owns 433,147 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $11,903,000 after purchasing an additional 377,000 shares during the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp acquired a new stake in shares of Assembly Biosciences in the second quarter valued at approximately $660,000. Stempoint Capital LP raised its position in Assembly Biosciences by 18.3% in the 1st quarter. Stempoint Capital LP now owns 185,435 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $5,146,000 after purchasing an additional 28,707 shares during the last quarter. Engineers Gate Manager LP raised its position in Assembly Biosciences by 88.5% in the 2nd quarter. Engineers Gate Manager LP now owns 17,766 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $488,000 after purchasing an additional 8,343 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Squarepoint Ops LLC raised its position in Assembly Biosciences by 43.7% in the 2nd quarter. Squarepoint Ops LLC now owns 34,214 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $940,000 after purchasing an additional 10,410 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 19.92% of the company’s stock.

About Assembly Biosciences

Assembly Biosciences, Inc is a clinical-stage biotechnology company focused on developing oral therapeutics for serious viral infections. The company’s research programs target chronic hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection and herpesvirus infections, including herpes simplex virus (HSV), with the goal of addressing diseases for which existing treatments may not provide adequate cures or long-term control.

Assembly’s pipeline includes novel antiviral candidates designed to interfere with essential stages of viral replication.