Cantor Fitzgerald Upgrades 89bio (NASDAQ:ETNB) to “Strong-Buy”

89bio (NASDAQ:ETNB) was upgraded by Cantor Fitzgerald to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note issued on Wednesday,Zacks.com reports.

Several other brokerages also recently issued reports on ETNB. UBS Group upped their target price on shares of 89bio from $25.00 to $38.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Citigroup initiated coverage on 89bio in a research report on Thursday, March 13th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $25.00 price objective on the stock. Wolfe Research started coverage on 89bio in a report on Tuesday, February 4th. They issued an “outperform” rating for the company. The Goldman Sachs Group started coverage on 89bio in a report on Friday, March 14th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $11.00 price target on the stock. Finally, Weiss Ratings reiterated a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of 89bio in a report on Thursday, April 24th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, five have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $27.25.

89bio Stock Up 1.4 %

Shares of NASDAQ:ETNB opened at $8.13 on Wednesday. The company has a current ratio of 11.66, a quick ratio of 11.66 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.09. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $7.39 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $8.17. 89bio has a 12-month low of $4.16 and a 12-month high of $11.84. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.19 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -2.79 and a beta of 1.25.

89bio (NASDAQ:ETNB) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 1st. The company reported ($0.49) earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($0.50) by $0.01. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned ($0.54) EPS. On average, research analysts anticipate that 89bio will post -3.19 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, insider Quoc Le-Nguyen sold 15,329 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, April 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $5.95, for a total value of $91,207.55. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 328,323 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,953,521.85. This trade represents a 4.46 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. 2.80% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised its position in shares of 89bio by 77.4% during the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 99,467 shares of the company’s stock valued at $736,000 after purchasing an additional 43,384 shares during the period. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. bought a new stake in shares of 89bio in the fourth quarter worth about $1,897,000. KLP Kapitalforvaltning AS purchased a new stake in shares of 89bio in the fourth quarter worth about $114,000. Barclays PLC grew its holdings in 89bio by 228.9% during the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 214,768 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,590,000 after buying an additional 149,479 shares in the last quarter. Finally, PNC Financial Services Group Inc. increased its stake in 89bio by 17.1% in the 4th quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 26,185 shares of the company’s stock worth $205,000 after acquiring an additional 3,820 shares during the last quarter.

89bio Company Profile

89bio, Inc, a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company, focuses on the development and commercialization of therapies for the treatment of liver and cardio-metabolic diseases. Its lead product candidate is pegozafermin, a glycoPEGylated analog of fibroblast growth factor 21 for the treatment of nonalcoholic steatohepatitis; and for the treatment of severe hypertriglyceridemia.