CRISPR Therapeutics (NASDAQ:CRSP) Trading Up 0.8% Following Analyst Upgrade

CRISPR Therapeutics AG (NASDAQ:CRSP) shares shot up 0.8% during mid-day trading on Friday after Citigroup raised their price target on the stock from $88.00 to $89.00. Citigroup currently has a buy rating on the stock. CRISPR Therapeutics traded as high as $57.50 and last traded at $56.59. 332,941 shares traded hands during trading, a decline of 82% from the average session volume of 1,825,252 shares. The stock had previously closed at $56.16.

Other equities analysts have also recently issued research reports about the company. Barclays raised their target price on CRISPR Therapeutics from $61.00 to $80.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, February 22nd. TheStreet upgraded CRISPR Therapeutics from a “d+” rating to a “c” rating in a report on Friday, February 23rd. Chardan Capital raised their target price on CRISPR Therapeutics from $110.00 to $112.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, February 22nd. Wolfe Research began coverage on CRISPR Therapeutics in a report on Thursday, February 15th. They set a “peer perform” rating on the stock. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on CRISPR Therapeutics from $55.00 to $70.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, February 22nd. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $76.29.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other CRISPR Therapeutics news, CEO Samarth Kulkarni sold 19,582 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, April 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $59.91, for a total transaction of $1,173,157.62. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 208,122 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $12,468,589.02. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In related news, General Counsel James R. Kasinger sold 1,913 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $79.67, for a total transaction of $152,408.71. Following the transaction, the general counsel now directly owns 57,371 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,570,747.57. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Samarth Kulkarni sold 19,582 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, April 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $59.91, for a total value of $1,173,157.62. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 208,122 shares in the company, valued at $12,468,589.02. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 133,992 shares of company stock valued at $9,157,835 in the last 90 days. 4.10% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in CRSP. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD increased its holdings in shares of CRISPR Therapeutics by 158.5% during the 2nd quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 3,014,551 shares of the company’s stock worth $183,194,000 after acquiring an additional 1,848,437 shares during the last quarter. ARK Investment Management LLC boosted its stake in CRISPR Therapeutics by 19.2% in the 4th quarter. ARK Investment Management LLC now owns 8,536,104 shares of the company’s stock valued at $534,360,000 after purchasing an additional 1,372,986 shares during the period. State Street Corp boosted its stake in CRISPR Therapeutics by 228.8% in the 2nd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 1,569,860 shares of the company’s stock valued at $95,400,000 after purchasing an additional 1,092,384 shares during the period. BlackRock Inc. boosted its stake in CRISPR Therapeutics by 79.2% in the 1st quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 2,278,774 shares of the company’s stock valued at $143,038,000 after purchasing an additional 1,007,246 shares during the period. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in CRISPR Therapeutics by 261.4% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 1,217,289 shares of the company’s stock valued at $76,410,000 after purchasing an additional 880,463 shares during the period. 69.20% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

CRISPR Therapeutics Trading Down 2.0 %

The company has a 50 day moving average of $73.26 and a 200-day moving average of $63.29. The firm has a market capitalization of $4.67 billion, a P/E ratio of -28.09 and a beta of 1.76.

CRISPR Therapeutics (NASDAQ:CRSP) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, February 21st. The company reported $1.10 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.15 by $0.95. The company had revenue of $201.20 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $148.72 million. The business’s revenue was up 3253.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted ($1.41) earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that CRISPR Therapeutics AG will post -6.24 EPS for the current fiscal year.

About CRISPR Therapeutics

CRISPR Therapeutics is a gene-editing company focused on developing transformative gene-based medicines for serious diseases using its proprietary CRISPR/Cas9 platform. CRISPR/Cas9 is a revolutionary gene-editing technology that allows for precise, directed changes to genomic DNA. CRISPR Therapeutics has established a portfolio of therapeutic programs across a broad range of disease areas including hemoglobinopathies, oncology, regenerative medicine and rare diseases.