CRISPR Therapeutics’ (CRSP) Buy Rating Reaffirmed at Needham & Company LLC

Needham & Company LLC restated their buy rating on shares of CRISPR Therapeutics (NASDAQ:CRSP) in a report published on Thursday morning,Benzinga reports. The firm currently has a $81.00 target price on the stock.

A number of other research firms also recently commented on CRSP. Barclays cut their price objective on shares of CRISPR Therapeutics from $56.00 to $42.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Friday, May 9th. JMP Securities reissued a “market outperform” rating and set a $86.00 price objective on shares of CRISPR Therapeutics in a research report on Wednesday, May 21st. Chardan Capital reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $82.00 price target on shares of CRISPR Therapeutics in a research note on Thursday. Wall Street Zen raised CRISPR Therapeutics to a “sell” rating in a research report on Friday, May 16th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group cut their price objective on shares of CRISPR Therapeutics from $53.00 to $47.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, May 8th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $69.53.

CRISPR Therapeutics Trading Down 2.0%

NASDAQ CRSP opened at $46.70 on Thursday. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $39.28 and a 200 day moving average of $40.56. The stock has a market capitalization of $4.03 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -10.33 and a beta of 1.75. CRISPR Therapeutics has a twelve month low of $30.04 and a twelve month high of $63.68.

CRISPR Therapeutics (NASDAQ:CRSP) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, May 6th. The company reported ($1.58) EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($1.27) by ($0.31). CRISPR Therapeutics had a negative return on equity of 20.08% and a negative net margin of 1,023.64%. The business’s revenue was up 71.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned ($1.43) EPS. Equities analysts predict that CRISPR Therapeutics will post -5.16 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, insider Naimish Patel sold 3,932 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $35.94, for a total transaction of $141,316.08. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 6,068 shares in the company, valued at $218,083.92. This represents a 39.32% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. 4.30% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On CRISPR Therapeutics

A number of institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Magnetar Financial LLC acquired a new position in shares of CRISPR Therapeutics in the 4th quarter valued at about $359,000. Baker BROS. Advisors LP raised its holdings in 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 buying an additional 464,936 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in CRISPR Therapeutics by 0.6% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 1,735,998 shares of the company’s stock valued at $68,329,000 after buying an additional 10,579 shares during the period. Green Alpha Advisors LLC lifted its position in CRISPR Therapeutics by 132.9% during the first quarter. Green Alpha Advisors LLC now owns 57,361 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,952,000 after buying an additional 32,732 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new stake in CRISPR Therapeutics in the 4th quarter valued at $3,231,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 69.20% of the company’s stock.

CRISPR Therapeutics Company Profile

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.