Absci (NASDAQ:ABSI) Given “Buy” Rating at Needham & Company LLC

Needham & Company LLC reissued their buy rating on shares of Absci (NASDAQ:ABSI) in a research report report published on Wednesday morning,Benzinga reports. The firm currently has a $7.00 price objective on the stock.

A number of other analysts have also recently issued reports on ABSI. HC Wainwright upped their target price on Absci from $7.00 to $8.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 17th. Morgan Stanley downgraded Absci from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and set a $4.32 price objective for the company. in a report on Thursday, January 8th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of Absci in a report on Wednesday, January 21st. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, one has assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $7.66.

Absci Price Performance

NASDAQ ABSI opened at $2.86 on Wednesday. Absci has a 12 month low of $2.01 and a 12 month high of $5.23. The company has a market capitalization of $430.06 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -3.18 and a beta of 2.12. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $2.81 and its 200 day moving average price is $3.19.

Insider Transactions at Absci

In related news, insider Andreas Busch bought 100,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 12th. The shares were bought at an average cost of $2.29 per share, for a total transaction of $229,000.00. Following the transaction, the insider owned 421,446 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $965,111.34. This trade represents a 31.11% increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, CEO Sean Mcclain sold 26,761 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $2.99, for a total transaction of $80,015.39. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 8,334,567 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $24,920,355.33. This represents a 0.32% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. 10.49% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Absci

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Quarry LP acquired a new stake in Absci in the third quarter valued at $26,000. BNP Paribas Financial Markets grew its stake in Absci by 91.2% in the 2nd quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 11,287 shares of the company’s stock valued at $29,000 after acquiring an additional 5,385 shares during the last quarter. Legal & General Group Plc increased its holdings in Absci by 45.9% during the 2nd quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 11,690 shares of the company’s stock valued at $30,000 after acquiring an additional 3,678 shares in the last quarter. HB Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in Absci during the third quarter worth about $31,000. Finally, Principal Financial Group Inc. acquired a new position in Absci during the third quarter worth about $31,000. 52.05% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

About Absci

Absci Corporation (NASDAQ: ABSI) is a biotechnology company that applies machine learning, synthetic biology and automation to accelerate the discovery and development of protein-based therapeutics. The company’s Integrated Drug Creation® (IDC®) platform is designed to identify and produce novel antibody and enzyme candidates at speeds and scales that traditional biopharma discovery methods cannot match. Absci works with pharmaceutical and biotechnology partners to generate, screen and optimize protein molecules for a wide range of therapeutic applications.

The core of Absci’s offering is its end-to-end discovery engine, which combines proprietary algorithms, high-throughput laboratory automation and a deep learning framework.