Celcuity (NASDAQ:CELC) Receives “Buy” Rating from Needham & Company LLC

Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed their buy rating on shares of Celcuity (NASDAQ:CELC) in a report released on Friday morning,Benzinga reports. Needham & Company LLC currently has a $70.00 target price on the stock.

A number of other equities research analysts also recently weighed in on CELC. Guggenheim initiated coverage on shares of Celcuity in a research report on Monday, September 22nd. They issued a “buy” rating for the company. Stifel Nicolaus started coverage on Celcuity in a research report on Tuesday, July 1st. They issued a “buy” rating and a $30.00 price target on the stock. Leerink Partners boosted their price target on Celcuity from $28.00 to $60.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, July 28th. Finally, HC Wainwright increased their price objective on shares of Celcuity from $50.00 to $66.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, August 18th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $56.50.

Celcuity Trading Up 2.2%

Shares of Celcuity stock opened at $50.51 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.24, a quick ratio of 4.58 and a current ratio of 4.58. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $50.26 and a 200-day moving average of $24.76. Celcuity has a 52-week low of $7.57 and a 52-week high of $63.06. The stock has a market cap of $2.14 billion, a PE ratio of -14.64 and a beta of 0.70.

Celcuity (NASDAQ:CELC) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 14th. The company reported ($1.04) EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.90) by ($0.14). As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Celcuity will post -2.62 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Celcuity news, Director David Dalvey sold 100,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, July 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $43.98, for a total value of $4,398,000.00. Following the sale, the director owned 125,000 shares in the company, valued at $5,497,500. This trade represents a 44.44% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. 15.77% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Large investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Baker BROS. Advisors LP grew its position in Celcuity by 59.0% during the 1st quarter. Baker BROS. Advisors LP now owns 4,257,735 shares of the company’s stock worth $43,046,000 after acquiring an additional 1,579,182 shares during the last quarter. Soleus Capital Management L.P. boosted its stake in shares of Celcuity by 17.0% during the second quarter. Soleus Capital Management L.P. now owns 3,011,818 shares of the company’s stock valued at $40,208,000 after purchasing an additional 437,696 shares in the last quarter. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. bought a new stake in shares of Celcuity during the second quarter worth about $3,197,000. Ameriprise Financial Inc. increased its stake in shares of Celcuity by 27.6% in the second quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 768,796 shares of the company’s stock valued at $10,263,000 after buying an additional 166,324 shares during the period. Finally, Eventide Asset Management LLC raised its holdings in Celcuity by 9.8% in the 2nd quarter. Eventide Asset Management LLC now owns 1,389,427 shares of the company’s stock valued at $18,549,000 after buying an additional 123,774 shares during the last quarter. 63.33% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Celcuity Company Profile

Celcuity Inc, a clinical stage biotechnology company, focuses on the development of targeted therapies for the treatment of various solid tumors in the United States. The company's CELsignia diagnostic platform uses a patient's living tumor cells to identify the specific abnormal cellular process driving a patient's cancer and the related targeted therapy for the treatment.