Centessa Pharmaceuticals’ (CNTA) “Market Perform” Rating Reaffirmed at Leerink Partners

Leerink Partners reissued their market perform rating on shares of Centessa Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:CNTA) in a research note released on Wednesday morning,Benzinga reports. Leerink Partners currently has a $40.00 price objective on the stock, up from their prior price objective of $36.00.

Several other research analysts have also commented on CNTA. Needham & Company LLC lowered shares of Centessa Pharmaceuticals from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday. Truist Financial raised their target price on shares of Centessa Pharmaceuticals from $33.00 to $38.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 29th. Piper Sandler reaffirmed an “overweight” rating on shares of Centessa Pharmaceuticals in a report on Friday, January 16th. Chardan Capital reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $30.00 price target on shares of Centessa Pharmaceuticals in a research report on Friday, January 2nd. Finally, Wolfe Research lowered Centessa Pharmaceuticals from an “outperform” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eight have given a Buy rating, four have assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $40.00.

Centessa Pharmaceuticals Trading Up 0.4%

Shares of NASDAQ CNTA opened at $39.86 on Wednesday. Centessa Pharmaceuticals has a 1-year low of $9.60 and a 1-year high of $40.26. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $26.62 and a 200 day moving average price of $25.35. The stock has a market capitalization of $5.82 billion, a P/E ratio of -21.78 and a beta of 1.25. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.36, a current ratio of 10.56 and a quick ratio of 10.57.

Centessa Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:CNTA) last posted its earnings results on Monday, April 6th. The company reported ($0.48) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($0.38) by ($0.10). Equities research analysts expect that Centessa Pharmaceuticals will post -1.6 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Centessa Pharmaceuticals news, insider Gregory M. Weinhoff sold 73,196 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, March 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $26.33, for a total value of $1,927,250.68. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 65,925 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,735,805.25. This trade represents a 52.61% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, insider Iqbal J. Hussain sold 38,951 shares of Centessa Pharmaceuticals stock in a transaction on Monday, February 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $25.15, for a total transaction of $979,617.65. Following the sale, the insider owned 57,645 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,449,771.75. The trade was a 40.32% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders sold 349,073 shares of company stock worth $9,429,412 in the last three months. Corporate insiders own 7.09% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Centessa Pharmaceuticals

Hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Avoro Capital Advisors LLC lifted its position in Centessa Pharmaceuticals by 116.2% during the 3rd quarter. Avoro Capital Advisors LLC now owns 10,808,080 shares of the company’s stock worth $262,096,000 after acquiring an additional 5,808,080 shares during the period. EcoR1 Capital LLC increased its holdings in shares of Centessa Pharmaceuticals by 466.4% in the fourth quarter. EcoR1 Capital LLC now owns 3,115,000 shares of the company’s stock valued at $77,906,000 after purchasing an additional 2,565,000 shares during the period. Braidwell LP acquired a new position in shares of Centessa Pharmaceuticals in the fourth quarter valued at about $54,730,000. Federated Hermes Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Centessa Pharmaceuticals in the third quarter worth about $42,429,000. Finally, Maverick Capital Ltd. acquired a new stake in shares of Centessa Pharmaceuticals during the fourth quarter worth about $41,110,000. 82.01% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

More Centessa Pharmaceuticals News

Here are the key news stories impacting Centessa Pharmaceuticals this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Eli Lilly agreed to acquire Centessa in a deal worth up to $7.8 billion (initial $38.00/share cash plus contingent value rights), which creates a takeover premium and is the primary driver of the stock’s upward move. Eli Lilly to buy Centessa Pharma
• Positive Sentiment: Leerink Partners reaffirmed a “market perform” rating and raised its price target to $40.00, a small upward revision that supports the view the deal price is appropriate. Leerink raises price target
• Neutral Sentiment: Unusual options activity: earlier spikes in call buying and, more recently, a large surge in put purchases (10,659 puts) signal mixed positioning—some traders betting on deal completion/arb, others hedging or speculating on downside. (No single article link)
• Negative Sentiment: Multiple brokerages downgraded CNTA (Needham, Wolfe Research, Stephens), citing valuation or deal-related uncertainty — analyst downgrades can weigh on momentum despite the takeover premium. Needham downgrades
• Negative Sentiment: Several law firms and shareholder groups have announced investigations into whether the sale process and price are fair (Monteverde, Kahn Swick & Foti, Ademi, Halper Sadeh). Potential litigation or challenges to the transaction could delay closing or pressure the spread between market price and deal consideration. Shareholder investigation announced
• Negative Sentiment: Recent quarterly results missed EPS estimates (reported ($0.48) vs. consensus ($0.38)), underscoring ongoing clinical and execution risks outside the transaction context. Centessa earnings miss

About Centessa Pharmaceuticals

Centessa Pharmaceuticals plc is a global clinical‐stage biopharmaceutical company focused on the discovery and development of innovative therapies across multiple disease areas. The company operates a modular R&D network, bringing together a portfolio of independent, specialist research entities under a single corporate umbrella. This structure is designed to accelerate decision‐making and resource allocation while leveraging deep scientific expertise in each therapeutic domain.

Centessa’s pipeline spans oncology, immunology, neuroscience, cardiovascular and metabolic diseases, as well as rare genetic disorders.