Wall Street Zen Downgrades Benitec Biopharma (NASDAQ:BNTC) to Sell

Benitec Biopharma (NASDAQ:BNTC) was downgraded by Wall Street Zen from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note issued on Saturday.

Several other analysts have also recently weighed in on BNTC. JMP Securities set a $22.00 price objective on Benitec Biopharma in a report on Tuesday, November 4th. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of Benitec Biopharma in a research report on Wednesday, January 21st. TD Cowen reissued a “buy” rating on shares of Benitec Biopharma in a research note on Monday, January 12th. Citizens Jmp raised their price objective on shares of Benitec Biopharma from $20.00 to $22.00 and gave the company a “market outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 4th. Finally, Citigroup reaffirmed an “outperform” rating on shares of Benitec Biopharma in a report on Tuesday, November 4th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, one has given a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $26.25.

Benitec Biopharma Price Performance

Shares of Benitec Biopharma stock opened at $10.38 on Friday. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $12.29 and a 200 day simple moving average of $13.15. Benitec Biopharma has a fifty-two week low of $9.80 and a fifty-two week high of $17.15. The firm has a market cap of $355.62 million, a P/E ratio of -9.11 and a beta of 0.26.

Benitec Biopharma (NASDAQ:BNTC) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 12th. The biotechnology company reported ($0.26) EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.23) by ($0.03). On average, sell-side analysts expect that Benitec Biopharma will post -1.48 EPS for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Suvretta Capital Management, L acquired 77,387 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 29th. The stock was purchased at an average price of $13.44 per share, for a total transaction of $1,040,081.28. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director owned 9,700,195 shares in the company, valued at $130,370,620.80. This trade represents a 0.80% increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Over the last 90 days, insiders have purchased 190,364 shares of company stock worth $2,442,105. 4.80% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Benitec Biopharma

Several hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of BNTC. Nantahala Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Benitec Biopharma by 23.9% in the 4th quarter. Nantahala Capital Management LLC now owns 1,038,371 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $13,987,000 after buying an additional 200,276 shares during the period. Marshall Wace LLP bought a new position in Benitec Biopharma during the fourth quarter worth about $481,000. AWM Investment Company Inc. grew its stake in Benitec Biopharma by 54.7% in the fourth quarter. AWM Investment Company Inc. now owns 282,977 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $3,812,000 after acquiring an additional 100,000 shares during the period. Alyeska Investment Group L.P. acquired a new position in Benitec Biopharma in the fourth quarter valued at about $10,102,000. Finally, Siren L.L.C. bought a new stake in shares of Benitec Biopharma in the fourth quarter worth about $10,439,000. 52.19% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Benitec Biopharma Company Profile

Benitec Biopharma Ltd (NASDAQ: BNTC) is a clinical-stage biotechnology company developing gene-silencing therapies for serious human diseases. The company’s proprietary DNA-directed RNA interference (ddRNAi) platform is designed to enable sustained expression of small RNA molecules that specifically target and silence disease-causing genes. By integrating RNAi sequences directly into DNA constructs, ddRNAi aims to provide a long-term therapeutic effect from a single administration.

Benitec’s lead programs include development of ddRNAi candidates for chronic hepatitis B virus infection and for certain ocular conditions.