Needham & Company LLC Reiterates Buy Rating for CRISPR Therapeutics (NASDAQ:CRSP)

CRISPR Therapeutics (NASDAQ:CRSP)‘s stock had its “buy” rating reiterated by equities researchers at Needham & Company LLC in a research note issued to investors on Wednesday,Benzinga reports. They presently have a $84.00 price objective on the stock. Needham & Company LLC’s target price suggests a potential upside of 168.63% from the company’s previous close.

Several other analysts have also recently commented on the stock. Truist Financial upped their target price on shares of CRISPR Therapeutics from $100.00 to $120.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 12th. Bank of America reduced their target price on CRISPR Therapeutics from $98.00 to $85.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. The Goldman Sachs Group lowered their price target on CRISPR Therapeutics from $66.00 to $57.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of CRISPR Therapeutics to a “sell” rating in a report on Friday, March 21st. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus reduced their price target on shares of CRISPR Therapeutics from $53.00 to $49.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating and eleven have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $73.11.

CRISPR Therapeutics Stock Down 3.4 %

Shares of CRSP opened at $31.27 on Wednesday. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $41.56 and its 200-day simple moving average is $44.31. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.68 billion, a PE ratio of -7.16 and a beta of 1.85. CRISPR Therapeutics has a 12-month low of $30.04 and a 12-month high of $67.88.

CRISPR Therapeutics (NASDAQ:CRSP) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, February 11th. The company reported ($0.44) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of ($1.15) by $0.71. CRISPR Therapeutics had a negative net margin of 981.54% and a negative return on equity of 18.46%. Analysts anticipate that CRISPR Therapeutics will post -5.16 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CEO Samarth Kulkarni sold 9,973 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $42.42, for a total transaction of $423,054.66. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 180,890 shares in the company, valued at $7,673,353.80. The trade was a 5.23 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, General Counsel James R. Kasinger sold 2,850 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $42.42, for a total transaction of $120,897.00. Following the completion of the sale, the general counsel now owns 77,530 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,288,822.60. This trade represents a 3.55 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 32,381 shares of company stock worth $1,608,243. Insiders own 4.10% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in CRSP. Magnetar Financial LLC bought a new position in shares of CRISPR Therapeutics in the fourth quarter worth $359,000. Capital Market Strategies LLC acquired a new position in shares of CRISPR Therapeutics in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $461,000. KBC Group NV lifted its holdings in shares of CRISPR Therapeutics by 2,047.4% during the 4th quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 60,514 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,382,000 after acquiring an additional 57,696 shares during the period. Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of CRISPR Therapeutics during the 4th quarter worth approximately $3,231,000. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC increased its stake in CRISPR Therapeutics by 3.6% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,008,214 shares of the company’s stock valued at $47,383,000 after acquiring an additional 35,196 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 69.20% of the company’s stock.

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.