CRISPR Therapeutics (NASDAQ:CRSP) Stock Rating Upgraded by StockNews.com

CRISPR Therapeutics (NASDAQ:CRSP) was upgraded by StockNews.com to a “sell” rating in a research note issued to investors on Friday.

CRSP has been the topic of several other reports. Citigroup lowered their target price on CRISPR Therapeutics from $89.00 to $82.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, February 18th. JMP Securities reiterated a “market outperform” rating and issued a $86.00 target price on shares of CRISPR Therapeutics in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. The Goldman Sachs Group decreased their price target on CRISPR Therapeutics from $53.00 to $47.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, May 8th. Chardan Capital dropped their price objective on CRISPR Therapeutics from $84.00 to $82.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, May 7th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada dropped their price objective on CRISPR Therapeutics from $53.00 to $48.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, February 12th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $71.75.

CRISPR Therapeutics Trading Up 6.8%

Shares of CRSP stock opened at $38.77 on Friday. The business’s 50 day moving average is $37.50 and its two-hundred day moving average is $42.36. CRISPR Therapeutics has a twelve month low of $30.04 and a twelve month high of $67.88. The company has a market capitalization of $3.35 billion, a P/E ratio of -8.87 and a beta of 1.88.

CRISPR Therapeutics (NASDAQ:CRSP) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, May 6th. The company reported ($1.58) earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($1.27) by ($0.31). CRISPR Therapeutics had a negative net margin of 981.54% and a negative return on equity of 18.46%. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned ($1.43) earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 71.6% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts predict that CRISPR Therapeutics will post -5.16 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other CRISPR Therapeutics news, COO Julianne Bruno sold 1,198 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $42.42, for a total transaction of $50,819.16. Following the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 8,263 shares in the company, valued at approximately $350,516.46. The trade was a 12.66% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CEO Samarth Kulkarni sold 18,360 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $55.20, for a total value of $1,013,472.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 171,613 shares in the company, valued at $9,473,037.60. This represents a 9.66% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 32,381 shares of company stock worth $1,608,243. 4.30% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of CRISPR Therapeutics

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in CRSP. ARK Investment Management LLC lifted its position in shares of CRISPR Therapeutics by 19.7% in the fourth quarter. ARK Investment Management LLC now owns 8,973,064 shares of the company’s stock valued at $353,180,000 after acquiring an additional 1,474,439 shares in the last quarter. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. lifted its position in shares of CRISPR Therapeutics by 39.2% in the fourth quarter. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. now owns 3,811,708 shares of the company’s stock valued at $150,029,000 after acquiring an additional 1,074,238 shares in the last quarter. Capital International Investors lifted its position in shares of CRISPR Therapeutics by 10.3% in the fourth quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 8,743,523 shares of the company’s stock valued at $344,145,000 after acquiring an additional 816,789 shares in the last quarter. Millennium Management LLC lifted its position in shares of CRISPR Therapeutics by 6,769.1% in the first quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 583,733 shares of the company’s stock valued at $19,864,000 after acquiring an additional 575,235 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Baker BROS. Advisors LP lifted its position in shares of CRISPR Therapeutics by 55.1% in the fourth quarter. Baker BROS. Advisors LP now owns 1,308,011 shares of the company’s stock valued at $51,483,000 after acquiring an additional 464,936 shares in the last quarter. 69.20% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.