Wall Street Zen Downgrades AnaptysBio (NASDAQ:ANAB) to Buy

AnaptysBio (NASDAQ:ANAB) was downgraded by equities researchers at Wall Street Zen from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report issued to clients and investors on Friday.

ANAB has been the topic of a number of other research reports. UBS Group initiated coverage on shares of AnaptysBio in a report on Wednesday, January 7th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $70.00 price target on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on AnaptysBio from $51.00 to $81.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 5th. HC Wainwright lowered their price target on AnaptysBio from $52.00 to $51.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, November 24th. Guggenheim reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of AnaptysBio in a report on Thursday, December 18th. Finally, Barclays boosted their target price on AnaptysBio from $55.00 to $78.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nine have given a Buy rating, one has issued a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $62.70.

AnaptysBio Trading Up 0.4%

Shares of NASDAQ:ANAB opened at $47.54 on Friday. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $45.03 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $33.19. The stock has a market cap of $1.32 billion, a PE ratio of -16.86 and a beta of 0.32. AnaptysBio has a 1-year low of $12.21 and a 1-year high of $52.47.

AnaptysBio (NASDAQ:ANAB) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, November 4th. The biotechnology company reported $0.52 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of ($1.06) by $1.58. AnaptysBio had a negative return on equity of 1,101.24% and a negative net margin of 49.94%.The firm had revenue of $76.32 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $15.83 million. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that AnaptysBio will post -6.08 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

AnaptysBio declared that its Board of Directors has initiated a share buyback program on Friday, November 21st that permits the company to repurchase $100.00 million in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization permits the biotechnology company to buy up to 9.6% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are often an indication that the company’s board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

Insider Buying and Selling at AnaptysBio

In other news, insider Paul F. Lizzul sold 3,650 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, January 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $44.71, for a total transaction of $163,191.50. Following the sale, the insider owned 42,088 shares in the company, valued at $1,881,754.48. This represents a 7.98% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, insider Eric J. Loumeau sold 2,210 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, January 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $44.71, for a total transaction of $98,809.10. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 12,835 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $573,852.85. This trade represents a 14.69% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders sold 146,280 shares of company stock worth $6,714,939 in the last 90 days. Insiders own 33.50% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of AnaptysBio

Several institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. lifted its holdings in shares of AnaptysBio by 4,852.7% during the third quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 839,934 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $25,719,000 after purchasing an additional 822,975 shares in the last quarter. 683 Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in AnaptysBio by 155.6% during the 2nd quarter. 683 Capital Management LLC now owns 500,000 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $11,100,000 after acquiring an additional 304,373 shares during the period. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of AnaptysBio by 2.7% during the 3rd quarter. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. now owns 378,452 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $11,588,000 after acquiring an additional 10,005 shares during the last quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership boosted its holdings in shares of AnaptysBio by 145.6% during the 3rd quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 370,458 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $11,343,000 after acquiring an additional 219,648 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Soleus Capital Management L.P. grew its stake in shares of AnaptysBio by 214.6% in the second quarter. Soleus Capital Management L.P. now owns 321,040 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $7,127,000 after acquiring an additional 218,988 shares during the period.

About AnaptysBio

AnaptysBio, Inc is a clinical-stage biotechnology company focused on the discovery and development of therapeutic antibody product candidates in immunology and inflammation. Founded in 2012 and headquartered in San Diego, California, AnaptysBio leverages a proprietary somatic hypermutation platform to rapidly generate and refine human antibodies with optimized efficacy and safety profiles. The company’s technology is designed to accelerate target validation and candidate selection across a range of immune-mediated conditions.

The company’s pipeline includes multiple clinical-stage programs addressing dermatological and inflammatory disorders.